And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind;
and thy neighbour as thyself. Luke 10:27
When flying there are pre-flight instructions. It’s the oxygen mask instruction that gets my attention. The masks drop down from above you if something happens to the air pressure. They tell me I have to fit my own mask first before helping infants or the elderly. I’ve always felt that the airlines have got it the wrong way round. Surely I have to help others first and make sure everyone around me is OK before I put on my mask. That’s the right and proper thing to do. Anything else is just pure selfish.
As they run through the drill, I sit in the plane and it occurs to me: I’m of no use to anyone else if I run out of air. I must help myself before I can help anyone else. It's not selfish at all. In fact, in the final call, I am a liability if I cannot breathe myself.
This same principle could be applied to so many parts of life. If I want to help someone with advice, I must first make sure that I live by that advice myself!
Often in the past I’ve offered advice to others yet not taken it on board within my own life. How can I help fix someone else’s problems if I can’t take responsibility for my own? Frankly that is just being a busy body.
There is no sense in talking the talk if I am not willing to walk the walk. Just hypocrisy.
I have to be willing to put on my oxygen mask first!
My attitude towards God and others is colored by my attitude towards myself.
How can I love God when I think He made a mistake in creating me?
How can I pour out love for others if I am not receiving anything from the Father's heart for myself?
If I hate myself, I hate God and hate others. If I love myself, I love God and love others.
The beginning is to learn to love yourself.
For in him we live, and move, and have our being;
as certain also of your own poets have said,
For we are also his offspring. Acts 17:28
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