Is Loving Yourself Too Much Even a Thing?

 

Let us not become conceited,
provoking and envying each other.

Galatians 5:26 (NIV)

It starts innocently enough.

We are all encouraged to have a positive self-image, right? I mean, you can't "love your neighbor as you love yourself" if you don't first love yourself.

The problem is that some of us get to loving ourselves a bit much, as if we could do no wrong.

Then we want to make sure other people recognize how lovable we are, prompting them to appreciate our personal greatness. (A synonym for prompting is provoking.)

And what happens as we encounter people who have no need to compare or contrast themselves to others to feel good about themselves? We wish we could be like them, and that's called envy.

Most people quote the tenth commandment as "Thou shalt not covet." What most people don't do is translate that churchy word covet into something that normal people understand. You know ... something like envy.

Don't misunderstand. We have good reason to carry around a positive self-image. After all, Jesus thinks we're to die for! But before we get over-impressed with ourselves, let's remember the reason he died. And those sins of yours that put Jesus on the cross are "just as bad" as mine. And mine are just as bad as my neighbor's. 

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Truth is...The ground at the foot of the cross is perfectly level.

News Flash: Our Hope Does Not Reside in Washington DC

 

Many desire a ruler’s favor,

but a person receives justice from the Lord.

Proverbs 29:26 (CSB)

You see it every time political power changes hands: a new leader is suddenly surrounded by eager voices, each insisting they’re the truest supporter, each angling for a favor, a position, or a slice of the budget.

It makes total sense ... if your hopes for personal advancement, success, and security are pinned to a politician.

But if you long for real truth and justice, it would be good to heed the words of Charles Colson:

Where is the hope? I meet millions who tell me that they feel demoralized by the decay around us. Where is the hope? The hope that each of us has is not in who governs us or what laws are passed or what great things we do as a nation. Our hope is in the power of God working through the hearts of people. And that’s where our hope is in this country. That’s where our hope is in life.

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Truth is...Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.  -  Psalm 20:7 (NIV)

The One Verse that Shatters Most Leadership Books

 

Whoever is greatest among you should become like the youngest, and whoever leads, like the one serving.

Luke 22:26

To provide some context, Luke tells us the twelve disciples were arguing among themselves about who was the greatest. I can imagine Peter pointed out his natural leadership abilities and how he helped run the family's fishing business. James and John probably thundered out their own reasoning why they should be respected just a bit more than the others.

Then Jesus butts in with the bombshell that a true leader is a servant to the ones he leads. And he backs it up by pointing out that's what he's been doing all along.

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Truth is...I am reminded of the following illustration demonstrating the difference between a boss and a leader.

Five Solid Facts about the Holy Spirit

 

When the Counselor comes, the one I will send to you from the Father — the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father — he will testify about me.

John 15:26 (CSB)

There are plenty of people who freely admit to not fully understanding the role of the Holy Spirit within the Trinity or within our lives.

And that's okay.

I mean, the Holy Spirit is God, and as I've said on more than one occasion, if God is completely understandable, he's not much of a god, is he?

But there are some things about the Holy Spirit that we can know for certain because Jesus told us. Just in this one verse, he tells us five things about the Holy Spirit.

   1. He is the Counselor, providing guidance and comfort.
   2. Jesus has sent him, so his presence is a kept promise and a positive thing for us.
   3. He is "of truth." No falsehood can be connected with him.
   4. He is "sent from the Father" and "proceeds from the Father." He is just as much "part of diety" as Jesus, who was also sent from the Father. (John 8:42, et al)
   5. He testifies about Jesus. If something that seems spiritual is drawing attention to anyone or anything other than Jesus, we had best be careful.

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Truth is...Historically, opinions and arguments about the Holy Spirit have been responsible for division and disruption. My prayer is that, instead, he will be allowed to do his work, guiding us into all truth and uniting our hearts in Jesus.

The Most Honest Prayer You’ll Ever Pray Might Be Wordless

 

In certain ways we are weak, but the Spirit is here to help us. For example, when we don't know what to pray for, the Spirit prays for us in ways that cannot be put into words.

Romans 8:26 (CEV)

Have you ever been dumbfounded? Perhaps speechless? How about taciturn, tight-lipped, or tongue-tied?

I admit there have been many times when I've looked at the chaos surrounding me and have been utterly gobsmacked. It's hard to know how to even begin praying in the face of a world gone crazy.

But the Apostle Paul brings us good news, friends. Our prayers do not need to be peppered with perfect prose. The Holy Spirit, being God, knows exactly how we feel and is able to bring our burdens to Yahweh in a way that is beyond words.

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Truth is...sometimes the most effective prayer is a sigh ... or a sob.

For the Love of God

 

For several years, the Truth Is... Facebook page (click here) has featured a March tradition called #MarchingThroughScripture. Each day of the month, a Bible verse is posted that corresponds to that day's date. 

For instance...

On March 3, 2016, I would have posted John 3:16 (or 1 Timothy 3:16, or Insert a book of the Bible here, chapter 3, verse 16. (You understand, right?)

Well, to commemorate the recent publication of The Best of Truth Is... (click here), and the imminent beginning of this blog's 15th year, I'm taking the #MarchingThroughScripture concept and will be...um...2026ing through Scripture on each Thursday of the year, right here in this space.

But of course, it will be more than just posting a Bible verse a week. Our hope is that the Holy Spirit will lead us to a nugget of Truth worth considering 53 times before we're through. (Interesting note: 2026 has 53 Thursdays, starting January 1 and ending December 31!)

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Then God said, “Let Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) make man in Our image, according to Our likeness [not physical, but a spiritual personality and moral likeness]; and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, and over the entire earth, and over everything that creeps and crawls on the earth.”

Genesis 1:26 (AMP)

From the very beginning, humankind has not been just another animal that, through the laws of happenstance, finds itself alive and kicking on Planet Earth. We are not a tailless monkey or a hairless ape.*

We were created on purpose with an intentional internal likeness to our creator that renders us incapable of finding lasting contentment outside of Yahweh's design for us to be creative, authoritative, and loving...because God is not only The Creator and The Authority, but he is, to the very core, Love. (1 John 4:8)

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Truth is...This verse may very well be the greatest mystery of all. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were completely self-sufficient. They had no lack or weakness. So why create humans?

I can almost hear him say, "I've got so much love, I just can't contain myself!"

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*Sly allusion to the Rich Mullins song, "Higher Education and the Book of Love."

The Gifts of Christmas

 

Here it is, Christmas Day. Chances are high you're not getting around to reading this until later on in the day...or maybe even a few days later.

If you're blessed enough to have had family gathered around a tree and presents under that tree, the gifts have been unwrapped and appropriately oohed and ahhed over.

We celebrate God taking on flesh by receiving wonderful gifts from each other, and yet, in order to be born, Jesus gave up so much:

Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being.

When he appeared in human form,
he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

Philippians 2:6-8 (NLT)

Jesus gifted himself to us, and we give gifts to each other in celebration of that.

There's nothing inherently wrong with that, as long as we know the difference in value between our gifts and God's.

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Truth is...I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ.  -  Philippians 3:7-9 (NLT)