Self-love begins the moment your natural man and your spirit man becomes one. The world can teach you how to groom yourself with frequent visits to the hair salon, manicurist, designer clothing, etc. However outer beauty can never replace inward beauty. Too often women and men focus on their superficial possessions rather than dealing with the mess and brokenness in their hearts. Instead we walk around with mask never revealing how we truly feel about ourselves and others.
Loving yourself takes a lot of work and time, but it is worth the investment. One of my favorite scripture is Proverbs 11:22 it says “like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman without discretion”. We can deal with our outward appearance, but the longer we continue to let our inward selves live in filth we only suffer.
Paul Lawrence Dunbar wrote a poem that says; We wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—This debt we pay to human guile; With torn and bleeding hearts we smile, And mouth with myriad subtleties. Why should the world be over-wise, In counting all our tears and sighs? Nay, let them only see us, while We wear the mask. Try taking off the masks in 2019.
Take God at his word! His word can’t return unto him void. He promised to be a friend in the time of trouble. The two best relationships you can form this year is one with God and one with yourself. You are worth it. A spiritual relationship with God will help you to become a greater you, and to receive it you will have to release the old you.
