Love Yourself!

Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself! Matthew 22:38

Let's be honest, sometimes as Believers it becomes emotionally exhausting when we try to love someone and demonstrate kindness towards a person who constantly pushes us away or rejects our attempts to connect with them!  It becomes even more troubling, when we know in our hearts that we have done nothing to wrong the individual and it is clear that they are pushing us away based solely on their own past hurt and baggage they may be carrying that we never caused.  What do we do in these situations?

It is important for us to ALWAYS operate in love.  Nonetheless, in today's Scripture, Jesus admonished us to love our neighbor as ourself (Matthew 22:38).  Essentially, we are to love other people to the extent we love ourselves!  If we do not operate in self-love, we can never love others appropriately.  We were never instructed to love others MORE than ourselves but "AS" ourselves.

If you are able to operate in and show love towards someone who is ornery and constantly rejects you and it doesn't affect your self-esteem or diminish your sense of value, that is definitely commendable!  On the other hand, if your sense of value has began to become affected, it might be wise to take a step back.  If you have reached the point of mental and emotional exhaustion with someone to the point that you have neglected your own well-being, it may be an indication that it is time to take a step back and allow God to completely take the reins of the situation to operate in the heart of the other individual and to reveal to us the reason we are allowing this behavior.  God is always able to do exceedingly more than we can ask or think in the relationship and in the individual's life (Ephesian 3:20).  Love others and always love yourself as well!