Loving Yourself (Mark 12:28-34)
Gary McManus, 06/12/2022Part of the Life With Jesus is Better series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
June 12, 2022 Mark 12:28-34 "Loving Yourself?"
Today’s topic: you, me, love; self-love
It is complicated.
Really. How would you answer Pastor’s question
on exercise?
WHY is self-love a complicated topic?
The answer is in the Bible. Genesis 3:8-10, 18-19
Adam to God:
“Lord, I heard you. . .I was afraid of you. . .I hid from you. “
Afraid of the Creator and giver of life?
Afraid of the God who loves them?
Hiding from God who loves them?
THEN, things got WORSE!
Everything in creation was created good—paradise!
Paradise became affected/infected.
--relationship to God
--relationship to Creation
--relationship to one another
--relationship to oneself
All will have conflict. Even conflict within; conflicted.
Adam:”I hid MY nakedness”. . .strange, isn’t it?
For whose benefit is Adam hiding his nakedness?
Why is self-love complicated?
Because WE complicated it. We can no longer do what comes naturally.
We participate in our own self-destruction (however slowly): tobacco, alcohol, food.
Jim Gaffigan, American (Hoosier) comedian helps
lighten our load.
We have more information on diet, exercise, nutrition and calories than ever before in human history.
Americans are still becoming obese.
Fattest cities? Actually, it is worse; overweight, high blood pressure, no exercise, and diabetes.
Americans have food and freedom and we hurt ourselves with both, Pastor included.
“Wow, Pastor, self-love IS complicated.”
What would our doctors tell us?
Christian therapists, Jerry and Denise Basel’s book:
The Missing Commandment, Love Yourself.
Subtitled: It isn’t missing from the Bible. It’s missing from our lives.
The authors explain that the book was intended
“to clarify this crucial need—the ability to love ourselves—
not only is loving yourself Biblical, it is an essential truth for Christians to know , experience and live out.” Basically, love what God loves. (That always includes you.)
Congratulations on being a SURVIVOR. You know how. Do we know how to THRIVE?
Houseplants: survive or thrive?
We want to do more than survive; we want to thrive.
Jesus calls us to bear fruit, John 15:2-5.
Correct, we should not have to WORK at self-love.
But sin moves us toward self-destruction; sweet, tasty, but self-destructive. Since God does not want us to self-destruct, next time, we will discuss what God has been trying to do for our self-love because our loving Heavenly Father wants us to thrive.
Amen.
Earlier: | Same day: | Later: |
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« The Joy of Loving | None | Loving Yourself Part 2 » |