Brother in Christ

“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mt 22:37-39).

At first glance this passage seemed very straightforward to me. Of course we are to love God with all our heart, mind and soul and if we are to follow God it would make sense that we are called to love our neighbor as ourselves. That idea seemed to boil down what it means to follow Christ so that we may see the image of Christ in everyone we meet.

Lately I have realized it is far more complicated than I once thought. Not because the idea of loving God is hard to understand. But because how can I love my neighbor as Christ does, if I first have not fully understood what it means to love myself?

It then hit me in the middle of the night when I could not fall asleep. My mind kept thinking about loving God and loving my neighbor as myself. I realized how distracted I have been in life. How easy it is for me to veer off course and lose track of what is really important.

At the start of the next morning, I made a cup of coffee and prayed with the Scripture passage and I started to think. How would my day go differently if at the start of the day I kept these two questions in my mind:

1. If I were to look myself in the mirror at the end of the day, how do I want to feel about the man who is staring back at me?
2. How can I live today so that I can look at the man in the mirror and love him more today than I did yesterday?

The questions are tough. It is tough to evaluate myself and when I do, I am often my biggest critic. I tend to see my faults or sins, and forget that Christ knows my sins, but He calls me by my name. Christ knows that I am more than my sins.

So, how can I live out today as a follower of Christ so that I can love myself better? Only by loving myself better and more fully can I truly live out the commandments of loving God and loving my neighbor as myself. By doing so, I pray that one day I look into the mirror and I no longer see my reflection, but I see the face of Christ.

As I begin this journey to loving myself and God more fully, will you join me?

Sincerely,

Your Brother in Christ