Essential JesusSample

First Things First

Love your neighbor as yourself’... . As a younger woman, loving myself was not something that came easily to me. To be honest, I often wished I was someone completely different, and I even went through seasons of trying to BE different... and, in hindsight, I wasn’t the best friend, sister, or neighbor because, hey, I was so focused on myself!

Looking back I realized I was missing out on the other commandment Jesus referenced–"greater than these." What is this other commandment it’s talking about?

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength" (Mark 12:30 NIV).

God is calling us to love our neighbor, but I love how He puts this command second because I truly believe we won’t be able to do this properly until we fall head over heels in love with Him first!

People can be challenging to work with, children can be difficult to parent, caring for the orphans and widows can stretch us in painful and uncomfortable ways, but once we give ourselves over to loving Him, He will teach us how to truly love ourselves as His beloved children. In turn, that love will flow more easily to those other beautiful people in our lives.

Put Him first and everything else falls into place.

Written by BRITTANY GARCIA