The older I get, the more I realize that I am my harshest critic!\u00a0 Oh sure, I put that critical nature on others, thinking that they are \u201cjudging me\u201d when in reality they don\u2019t actually notice my faults, at least not nearly as much as I do myself.\u00a0 If I am to be honest, I have to admit that most of my stress is self-induced.<\/p>\n
That being said, I want to encourage you to consider making this 2016 resolution: love yourself. \u00a0We talk a lot about loving God (with all your heart, soul, mind and strength – Mark 12:30).\u00a0 We also talk a lot about loving neighbor.\u00a0 But we often forget to include what Jesus includes in that command to love neighbor: \u201cas yourself\u201d (Mark 12:31).\u00a0 We skip over that like it is some sort of \u201cDuh!\u201d \u00a0Scholars can unpack this better than I, but on the cusp of the New Year, I\u2019m thinking that\u2014at least for me\u2014this means that I need to love myself.\u00a0 And loving one\u2019s self means cutting yourself some slack, giving yourself a break, at least in many respects.\u00a0 Not the least of which is in your self-criticism. \u00a0Constructive criticism is one thing, but most of my self-criticism is NOT constructive.\u00a0 I suspect the same may be true for you.\u00a0 Most of my self-criticism is just plain condemnation: \u201cYou are fat!\u201d\u00a0 \u201cThat was stupid!\u201d\u00a0 \u201cHow could you be feeling that way?!\u201d \u00a0And so on.<\/p>\n
How about this year, 2016, we all resolve to stop speaking condemnation into our own spirits?\u00a0 How about we read Romans 8:1 and claim its truth:\u00a0 \u201cThere is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus\u201d?\u00a0 Or, how about we personalize the verse:\u00a0 \u201cThere is therefore now no condemnation for fill in your name<\/i>, who is in Christ Jesus\u201d?\u00a0 How about we love ourselves?<\/p>\n
After all, how can we love our neighbors (as ourselves) if we don\u2019t love ourselves? \u00a0So, love God. Love neighbor. And love yourself.<\/p>\n
Therefore, be it resolved!<\/p>\n
Happy New Year.<\/p>\n
Pastor Glen<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The older I get, the more I realize that I am my harshest critic!\u00a0 Oh sure, I put that critical nature on others, thinking that they are \u201cjudging me\u201d when in reality they don\u2019t actually notice my faults, at least not nearly as much as I do myself.\u00a0 If I am to be honest, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":1169,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59,90,38,102],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-news","category-families","category-outreach","category-pastoral"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1643"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1645,"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1643\/revisions\/1645"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}