“Loving Ourselves too Much?”
BIBLE
READING: 2 John, 3 John
If you go to a local bookstore, you should have no trouble
finding a book that will help you learn to love yourself. Millions of people seem to struggle with
having a positive self-image of themselves.
Whether they have grown up in a broken home, struggled with maintaining
a healthy relationship or swayed by the media’s idea about what is attractive;
people seem to have trouble falling in love with themselves. It is important for us to know that God
created us all in His image and that every single person has been given a
significant amount of value, but there is a danger in loving ourselves too
much. In the book of 3 John, we read of
a man who had been causing enough trouble for the church that the Apostle felt
the need to mention it in a letter to Gaius.
“Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our
authority” (3 John 9). How many of us
know a modern-day Diotrephes? That
person who is so proud of themselves that the arrogance just oozes out of them
with each breath. They never like to be
told what to do, they never like to be told they’re wrong, and if something is
to be done it must be done their way.
Yes, we should be the kind of people that are content with who we
are. Yes, there also must be a
confidence that we carry within ourselves, but never are we taught to be like
Diotrephes. You have been given a
significant amount of value, talents and gifts, but may we never use those
gifts so much for self that we become the kind of person that was described as
“likes to put himself first”. In fact,
in Scripture we are taught just the opposite “The last shall be first, and the
first shall be last” (Matthew 20.16).
Prayer
Requests:___________________________________________________________________________________
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