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| Image Credit: Unknown |
Recently, it surprised me how often in the New Testament
we’re commanded to love one another.
James 2:8 says that such loving fulfills the royal law. I
take that to mean the supreme law—one that supersedes all commands.
As a life principle, who could argue against it? The
problem for most of us - or at least for me - is that I have to confess failure
more often than success when it comes to obeying. My tendency is to say (or
think), “Yes, I love Hank, but...”
Three months ago, I was pondering Jesus’ double command
to love God with our total being and others as ourselves (i.e., on the same
level we love ourselves). See Matthew 22:37–39.
A thought hit me: I can’t truly love anyone else unless I
first love Cec Murphey. Loving him means accepting him exactly as he is and not
judging him. This isn’t to say ignore his shortcomings. If I love myself, I can
show mercy and kindness to Cec, despite his mistakes and sins.
That led me to this: On the level that I love myself, I
love those people in my life. If I can accept myself uncritically, I can pass
on that compassion. My struggle has focused on unrestricted self-acceptance.
That’s when I began daily my selfish-love prayer: Lord, help me love Cec
uncritically so that I can love people nonjudgmentally.
I call it selfish because my goal is to blindly accept
others as they are, but to do that I have to categorically love the man inside
my skin.
My prayer encourages me to lavish grace on Cec so that he
can extend it to everyone else. I call it selfish only because I’m learning
self-compassion with a purpose. Perhaps many can accomplish that purpose easier
than I can. I know that each morning my motivation to be more tolerant and kind
to Cec has a further purpose to accept individuals without restriction.
I haven’t fully succeeded, but with this motive in mind,
I’m slowly fulfilling Jesus’ words to love people on the same level as I love
myself.
-from Cec Murphey's June 2017 newsletter
