Love yourself

 “Love yourself”, a topic that consists of a myriad of intricacies that we can barely scratch the surface of in this one blog post. But we can give it a little push, a morsel to nibble on as food for thought.

Sadly, there are too many persons in this world who do not love themselves. Christians and non-Christians alike suffer from low self-worth, low self-esteem and practice self-abasement.

As Christians, the truth of who we are is written in the bible and we need to see that truth clearly and conform our lives to it. We need to read it and intentionally embrace what is true about us.

Understand that you are the steward of yourself, and you must remember that stewards are charged with taking care of things that don’t belong to them. You are not your own, you belong to God, His ever-beloved creation.

Acknowledge that the Lord is God. He made us, and we belong to him; we are his people, we are his flock. (Psalm 100:3 GNT)

The truth is, you are chosen, chosen by God Almighty – His person.

Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3 AMPC)

The truth is, God loves you completely; His love for you is wide, long, high and deep (ref. Ephesians 3:18).

For we are His workmanship [His own master work, a work of art], created in Christ Jesus [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, ready to be used] for good works, which God prepared [for us] beforehand [taking paths which He set], so that we would walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us]. (Ephesians 2:10 AMPC)

The truth is, you are God’s masterpiece, created inherently and undeniably perfect in His eyes, not sinless perfection, for we are all born of sin, but you are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14).

Now that you know the truth, own it.

Stop comparing yourself to others, for you are unique – there is no one else like you in this entire world, for God lovingly formed your inward parts and knitted you together in your mother’s womb (ref. Psalm 139:13).

Stop writing God’s truth about yourself in pencil and begin to write it down in indelible ink. Stop the negative self-talk and start engaging in conversations with God about you – ask, listen and believe. Read what He says about you in His Word.

You may have been through a lot in this life and you are meant to feel emotions, but you aren’t meant to foster the negative feelings – feel and let them go, hand them over to God – the fear, the hurt, the disappointment, the offence, every negative emotion is not to be owned and nurtured.

They are not a reflection of who you are!

In life you will make mistakes, you will fail sometimes but the shortcomings do not define you, they are not your identity.

You are good enough!

You are who God says you are!

At the core of who you are is the love of God!

Stop hating who you see in the mirror!

Believe the truth of who God says you are, then speak it aloud over and over again until it is embedded in you.

God loves you fiercely so, when you love yourself, you glorify and honour God.

You’ve taken care of everyone else. Ensuring that the spiritual well-being of family, friends, neighbours and strangers is headed in the right direction but neglecting your physical well-being. You are exhausted, weary, overwhelmed by the work. No good to yourself.

Self-love is not self-centeredness; it’s not about bubble baths and massages, of course those are great but those are outward self-care, loving yourself has to do with what’s inside of you. You need to rest, relax and reflect so that you may be restored internally or have you forgotten that God rested after the work of creation.

Beloved, do you truly love yourself? Think about that for a minute. How have you been treating yourself?

Determine to love yourself, you are the only self that you are. Everyday make the choice to love yourself.

Amen †

Shelley Johnson “Love yourself” ©2026 May 1, 2026

 

 

 

Love your Friends

 

The hardest people to witness to are those whom you know best, the ones that are close to you – family and friends. But what kind of friend would you be if you don’t share your Christian walk with your friends? Friends don’t let friends go to hell.

Reaching out to friends is just as important as your outreach to strangers. You are already in a relationship; the friendship has been long established, and you’ve shared a lot over the years, yet somehow you haven’t shared the message of Christ with them and have not been open about your spiritual journey.

Your desire to help your friends grow in the love and knowledge of Jesus must far outweigh any inconvenience or awkwardness you may encounter. There comes a time when you need to change the conversation, you’ve built the bridge of friendship, now cross it – cross over into a new dimension of the relationship.

Crossing that bridge assists in bridging the gap that your friends may be experiencing between themselves and Jesus; but how are you to know if you don’t venture into that area of their lives?

Jesus said that we must “go” (Matthew 28:19-20) however, many of us prefer persons to “come”, come to us on our terms. But it’s not about us, it’s about their salvation.

No one has greater love [no one has shown stronger affection] than to lay down (give up) his own life for his friends. (John 15:13 AMPC)

As followers of Jesus, He calls on us to lay down our lives by not letting selfishness or pride be our guide; we are to be humble, and honour others more than ourselves and not be interested only in our own lives, but care about the lives of others too (ref. Philippians 2:3-4).

You lay down your life by emulating His love, the abiding love of Jesus in you that flows out from your relationship with Him, however, if you are not truly in relationship with Christ, then you won’t be willing to “lay down” your life for your friends.

Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in Me, and I will live in you.] Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me. (John 15:4 AMPC)

You are to bear the fruit of love that comes from abiding in Jesus. There’s a song that says, “They will know we are Christians by our love”, love that identifies you as Christian. Can your friends identify you as a follower of Christ by your love?

Christian love is not to be contained within the walls of the church and is certainly not a grand performative gesture to be displayed in front of your fellow church members, it is meant to be an outward expression of genuine love and care and kindness and much more (see 1 Corinthians 13:4-8).

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal… but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1, 3 NLT)

If you don’t love your friends enough to care about their spiritual well-being by sharing with them the Gospel of Christ, then they would gain nothing and you would have gained nothing.

Beloved, you cannot continue hoping that your friends will somehow “catch” Christianity, like how you “catch” a cold. Give them the same opportunity that was given to you to live their best life ever by becoming a follower of Jesus.

Amen †

 

Shelley Johnson “Love your Friends” ©2026 April 30, 2026