We are called to “love our neighbors as ourselves”. I find even more life in these words when we say “love your neighbors as you love yourself”. This wording now forces us to ask the question “How do we love ourselves?” We must ask this question and answer it honestly because it’s important to realize that you are only able to love others in so much as you do the same for yourself, and in the same fashion. So how do you love yourself? Do you love yourself because you look good, because you have means, because you have a lot of friends. Maybe you love yourself because you give to the church, or spend time helping others. These are all good things, and you should feel good about them. But, I would like to dig under the surface for a moment (In case you didn’t know all the good stuff is just under the surface,thinly veiled). I think most of us love ourselves as we find ourselves in the “winner” column, or on the “right” side of things. Unfortunately, if you are thinking with the mindset of western culture, then you have de facto created a loser out of someone. To be a little more specific, you have to have something to compare yourself against to know you are a winner. So consciously, or sub consciously, you are able to identify yourself as lovable against the picture of someone who is not. Maybe not a specific person per se, but you have identified the characteristics of each group, and you know them when you see them. I don’t believe this was the direction these words were meant to point.
I think a better trajectory for these words says to us, we should love ourselves within the knowing that God loves us with no criteria attached. This should also be the ground that those of us who don’t love ourselves very much stand strongly on. If we can then accept this for ourselves we must also accept the same for others. This is most certainly not easy for many of us initially. However, when you do arrive at this point, something wonderful shows up at your doorstep. You can now see a win/win scenario for creation instead of a win/lose scenario. Now, as you view the totality of Gods creation you are able to accept that in the end he will bring it all back unto him. Every bit of it, all the earthly “good” people, and the earthly “bad” people. They will all find their resting place within the source from which they came. This should indeed be part of the good news! God doesn’t lose! How could the power that created all this majesty ever lose one part of it. Our earthly choices can only pale in comparison to that which is the Will of our Creator. Our Source is made perfect by the wholeness of his creation. If but one soul is lost then our creator is no longer whole, this can’t happen.
So how does this thinking help us love our neighbors better? It levels the playing field so to speak. We now find ourselves on equal footing with everyone. We now know that we are all in the same column in the eyes of God. All winners! Granted, some of us don’t perform very well during our time here, and it can make things difficult, even tragic at times. But if I am able to look at the “worst” of us and know that in the eyes of our Creator we are the same, then I can only see compassion and love for that person, judgement goes right out the window. We are now able to be a conduit for the Holy Spirit to move into peoples lives, so that they may find the peace of God.