Day 06 #DailyDevotionals
One night, I was opening my Instagram and checking out one of my friend’s stories. It was 12 in the morning and I was super sleepy. In a few seconds, my screen was filled with her complaints of life. And there she typed a super long lecture about loving ourselves first then loving others. I frowned as my fingers tapped the edge of the screen, digesting all the words silently. Her words preoccupied my thoughts which immediately took my drowsiness away. At first, I disagreed with her point of view. But then, I came to realization that this is what the world is currently experiencing.
Love yourself. I bet you’re familiar with that term, right? Nowadays people often have this love-yourself thing and expects that others will come to respect you when you respect yourself.The world has slowly changes our definition of love and respect—without us realizing it—as it is echoed in songs, films and various articles.
But the reality is that God wants it different. We can never get the respect we want from people whom we are jealous of when we don’t give it to them first. We cannot be loved by those whom we dislike (or even hurt us) like we want to when we don’t give our love first. This is what I John 4:19 says about it: we love because He first loved us. It’s just the same when Christ comes down to the world to redeem our sins, and to mingle with those who are dark and unholy like us.
It is a sad reality because so many people are lost in the dark. That is the reason why people care about themselves so much. No one comes to them first. That’s why they are hurt and unprotected. Imagine if you are lost and cannot find your way back home, then some stranger came to you and took all your things away. Naturally, you will protect yourself first because you have no one by your side—in other words, alone. There is no other choice but to love ourselves when we are alone.
Everything becomes different when we receive Jesus as our personal savior. In him, we experience a new life, a new heart and a new love.
God values us first when we think of ourselves as these ‘self-respecting’ people with mere prides of life (that becomes our own center of universe). God loves us first when we think highly of ourselves and look down on people whom we have issues with. Can you imagine if you deal with the same person with the same issue over and over again? Will you not be bored of him? Of course, yes. When you see his name popping up in your screen notifications, will you not think of something like, “oh man, it’s that person again with the same issue. God, why does he always shows up in my life? I’m tired!” The interesting thing is that Jesus never gets bored with us. He never says, “Sorry, I don’t have time with you now.” God comes for us first, so we have to come to others first before going to ourselves.
People can claim that this is only a matter of subjective and personal opinion, but I say that this is the real concept of lifestyle God wants us to have. Just look around you and see the proof. Employees get promoted when they respect their boss and serve the customers with their humble hearts. A president gets to be loved by the nation when he value and prioritize his people first. That is supposed to be the real definition of respect and love.
What the people and media has been teaching us is the wrong thing all along. God designs us to be the example. The first initiator. The difference among the rest. The light in the dark. When we start to put others first before our lives, we are rewarded with the things we desire in our hearts, either it is respect or love from others. What makes us a great person is not because of what we do towards others, but the cause—based on the conviction of the ultimate Source of Truth—behind our actions. We are a reflection of what we believe. It’s only a matter of our own choice: who do we want to be?
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