Jesus says we will be known by our love, and our love is to make him known. So, every day, we show up and we try to love. Darn, we try. Y’all know, some people are easier to love than others. Some just test the Jesus in you. I bet you can think of a very specific person that is really hard to love. Someone you work with, someone you live with, someone you share a circle with. Whew, Jesus wants you to love them, but it’s stretching you to your limits.

Who is it that is most hard for you to love?

Oh, I know exactly who it is. Let me hit the nail on the head and give you your ah-ha moment early. It’s someone you live with. It’s someone you work with. And it’s someone in every one of your circles. It’s YOU. You are most hard for you to love. You have become self-critical and judgmental of yourself. And of course you have, because you spend a whole lot of time with you.

I’m a fan of long distance relationships. Our time together is short and sweet. It is savored and precious, then you go home. I don’t have to deal with your quirky self on the daily, and let me tell you, girl, you are quirky! You’ve got some weird things you do. Some of y’all label crap and alphabetize it. Some of y’all can’t sit and keep your hands still. Some of y’all eat popcorn really loud. And some of y’all come up with the craziest cock-a-mamey ideas that no one understands (oh wait, that’s me.) It’s cute for a short amount of time, but then we need some space.

And that’s the problem, wherever you go, THERE YOU ARE! You can’t get space from you! You intimately know your struggles. You have to put up with your own darn quirkiness 24/7. You had a front row seat to every one of your failures. You don’t even like the sound of your own voice. And let’s not talk about looking in the mirror or seeing yourself in photos. Oh mercy. It’s a real issue.

Do you have a hard time loving you?

Let’s make this real clear … this is a problem. And it’s a problem for Jesus!

You will be known by your love and your love is to make him known, but you refuse to fully love the one person you can simply never get away from … YOU!

I promise you this, you hating you is not an honorable representation of your Creator. You may cover it up as humility, but at its core, it’s hateful. You’re hateful to you. And you being hateful to you doesn’t make a single soul say, “Wow, I just gotta know what that girl is doing! I gotta know about the one who helps her hate herself so well. I just gotta know where she gets this deep critical spirit for herself from, because I really want some of that too.” Nobody ever says that.

Do you want to know why loving others exhausts you so much sometimes? Because you show up already worn out from the battle you’re fighting with yourself. Before you ever greet your family in the morning, you’ve already beat yourself up for how your body is aging, how your energy is never enough, and how you’ve secretly failed yourself. And maybe you put on a good show so no one else sees it, but you hear it. That little voice in your head just never stops.

It’s why we struggle with relationships. We’re looking for someone to fill that empty hole within us, but no matter how much they pour into us, it’s never enough because, girl, you keep poking at the hole. God wants to heal that hole in you. He wants to help you calm the voices. He wants to help you love yourself so you can show up in this world in a way that glorifies your Creator.

What’s your current favorite product? There’s something you own that you just love. Maybe you love your Roomba. Maybe it’s your Sleep Number Bed. How about your Lululemon workout pants that you don’t really workout in? Or your Stanley cup, your Dyson hair dryer, your UGG winter boots, your jacked up Jeep, your fancy Tesla, or your Dawn Dishwashing Soap Spray (because that stuff is pure magic and gets a 3 month old stain out of your favorite shirt.) You have something you love. Now imagine of this product you love started telling you all about how much it dislikes itself.

What if your UGG boots constantly told you how truly ugly they really are, because let’s face it, those boots are ugly. You know that’s why they’re called UGG, right? They ugg-ly! If every step you took in your UGG boots, they just hated themselves, you would eventually believe there was something wrong with them. And there’s certainly something wrong with whoever made those boots because boots aren’t supposed to talk about how ugly they are.

What if your Roomba roamed around on your floors, vacuuming up all that dog hair like she always does, but she started incessantly talking about her clumsiness and tendency to always bump into things. “Oh my gosh, I can never just get from the kitchen to the bedroom without running into everything. I always get stuck under the couch. Gosh, why do I do that? I hate that about my Roomba self. I’m always just wandering around lost and then I start running low and run out of energy. I just can’t do it all.” If your Roomba started talking like this, you would think the insanely rich creator of the Roomba wasn’t so great after all. Dude, what you made hates itself!

Could that be our representation of God? Oh, God is sooooo good, he is sooooo faithful. I loveeeeeee God, but I just can’t love me. I’m just messed up. I’m flawed. I’m never good enough. I’m unworthy. But, everybody, you should really love the one who personally designed me, he’s great!

Do you see what you’re doing when you are unloving toward yourself? Do you see how it’s totally NOT humble, it’s totally not honoring, and totally not God’s will for you? You see it, don’t you? So, when are you going to get serious enough to do something about it?

Jude 1: 20-21, “But you, beloved, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God as you await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you eternal life.”

The Message Translation says it like this, “Stay right at the center of God’s love, keeping your arms open and outstretched, ready for the mercy of our Master, Jesus Christ. This is the unending life, the real life!”

And we do precisely the opposite of this. Us beloved girls of the Almighty, we tear ourselves down in comparison and shortcomings, and we disqualify ourselves from the love of God. All while we are supposed to be building ourselves up in faith and keeping ourselves in the love of God. Instead, we shut down. We shrink and hide. We build walls. And we live on the outskirts of God’s love instead of staying right smack dab in the middle of it.

God loves you … but you aren’t keeping yourself in that love when you continually chose to not love yourself.

THIS IS A PROBLEM. A serious problem. And God wants to change that this year!

My friend Jody is reading a book right now. I don’t know the book, so I can’t tell you the source, but she sent me a photo of one paragraph yesterday. It said this, “Practice the mindset of being profusely loved by God. “

Woah, that’s a total shift in your mindset, huh? The mindset of being profusely loved by God. If you knew how much your creator loved you, you would find it easy to love you too. And if you loved you just as you were created, you would represent your Creator in a magnificent way. But instead, you’re the Roomba, wandering around cleaning floors blasting to the world about your low battery, your tendency to get stuck, and the corners you constantly miss. It’s hard for me to praise your Maker when you’re continually telling me what he made in you isn’t enough.

Beloved, build yourself up and keep yourself in the love of God!

Today, practice this mindset of being profusely loved by God. Invite your soul to plunge into his love like a dolphin romping in the sea. Go ahead and get that visual. The dolphin clearly doesn’t hate itself. It swims and it jumps and celebrates everything it was created to do. And every single one of us absolutely LOVE watching a dolphin. We all literally delight in seeing a dolphin just being a dolphin and doing it’s dolphin things. A dolphin doesn’t make a lot of money. A dolphin doesn’t speak eloquently. A dolphin doesn’t run marathons. A dolphin doesn’t have a degree. A dolphin does “dolphin-ing”, and we love it for it!

And I’m telling you, we need to see you living like that! We need to see you plunging into God’s love, building yourself up. We need to see you jumping up, unafraid to be seen, loving how your Creator created you. I need to see Arlene “Arlene-ing”. I need to see Bri “Bri-ing”. I need to see Tammy “Tammy-ing”. I need to see Wendy “Wendy-ing.” Angie, you honor your creator when you are “Angie-ing”. Dana, please bring your “Dana-ing” today. Heather, get your “Heather-ing” on today. Jody, I sure hope you “Jody-ing”. Lynnae, only you can bring your “Lynnae-ing”. Let’s see Nan “Nan-ing”. Nonnie, girl only you can Nonnie like you Noonie. Rebekah, your “Rebekah-ing” and Stephanie, your “Stephanie-ing” shows me your creator!

Actively engage in his unending, extravagant, no-strings attached affection for you. That’s not bragging, boasting or showing off. That’s saying, “Hey, I’m an UGG boot, and I’m showing up exactly as I was created to. I was designed to look like this, and the one who made me really likes me!” That’s saying, “I’m a Tesla Model 3, and I’m not going to beat a Porsche 911 GT2 RS in a race, but I’m going to get you 132 miles to the gallon!” That’s saying, “I’m a Stanley Cup. I can’t make my own water, but girl, I can keep your water cold and I can also keep that coffee hot! I’m magical in my own way!”

I’m not like you, and you’re not like me. But we can each glorify our Maker when we adopt the mindset of being profusely loved by our maker. We can glorify our creator when, like a dolphin romping in the sea, we plunge into God’s love for us, totally enough, wholly chosen, and confidently placed in a time such as this.

I’ll stop everything I’m doing to watch that dolphin naturally doing dolphin things, loving it’s dolphin life. In the same way, I’ll stop everything I’m doing to see YOU naturally doing your thing, loving your life. Ohhhhh, what a beautiful representation of your creator you are when you keep yourself in his love!

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