“Love Yourself!” This phrase seems to be everywhere lately. Will this fix the issue of insecurity?
The media always seems to be promoting unrealistic and sometimes impossible standards for women to reach. Statements like “all you really need is a-rockin’ bod, and some hair extensions,” often leave us feeling insecure about ourselves because we might not have the qualities that the media tries to feed us as “perfect.” Now, to fight this issue of insecurity, we often tell people that they should “love themselves,” it seems like the easiest solution, right? If we could teach girls to “love themselves” at a young age won’t we get rid of half the problem?
If we learn to “feel good about ourselves” no matter what society says is “perfect,” we’ll be okay, right?
Learning to love yourself and realizing how precious you are in God’s eyes – so precious that He gave His only Son for you, is definitely important. We should value who we are because we are priceless and made in God’s image; we are His perfect creations. WE ARE DAUGHTERS OF THE HIGHEST KING; Princesses!
Yes, we should “love ourselves.” But, if we take “loving ourselves” and “feeling good about ourselves” and make these thoughts focal points in our lives, we can quickly take our focus off of Jesus Christ and focus on ourselves.
Philippians 3:3 states that we should take no pride in ourselves but put all of our confidence in Jesus Christ.
Jesus says, in Luke 9:23, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” It may seem funny that self-denial, instead of self-love, would be the cure for all of our insecurities, but when we let ourselves fade into the background, we will be consumed by Jesus and all of our insecurities will melt away.
We will no longer look at ourselves to find confidence.
We will learn to find confidence in Jesus Christ and who He is, rather than who we are.
Now, to me, this actually relieves a lot of pressure off of my shoulders. Knowing that I don’t have to be perfect because Jesus already is. Knowing that what society deems “perfect,” I don’t need to be. I have full confidence in the one who hung the stars.
So, instead of trying to “love yourself” more or build-up your self-esteem, let your thoughts of self fade away completely. Only then will Jesus shine in and through us, this is how we’ll gain lasting security.
