Chapter 2
SELF-Love??

Did you know that feeling alone is a clever scheme the enemy uses to make us believe the lie that our heart is heavy because we need to learn to love ourselves? But GOD that’s a lie because His Word says no one ever hated his own flesh, we cherish it. We are born SELFish. A baby is born demanding, crying for what he or she wants until he or she is old enough to be trained to not love only themselves. Notice the keyword SELF? 

When God sent His Son to live on the earth, He came for many reasons. The first was to break the chains of death so we can live eternally, living with Him now and forever. Another reason God sent His Son to live on the earth was to leave us an example to show us how we are to live while here on earth. The Good Lord describes Himself saying, “I am gentle and humble in heart” so when we live like this, humbly, we are promised to find rest for our souls—no matter what is happening in our lives or what’s happening in the world. Our Lord also says that the only way we can live humbly is for us to be yoked or connected to Him and this will make our lives easy and light. 

Think of yoked to the Lord of Hosts, tethered to the Lord as we leap out of a plane on a secret mission. Imagine yourself as you board an aircraft and soar to 13,000 feet or almost 4,000 meters (approximately 2 miles or over 3 kilograms high in the air)! When you and your Savior leave the plane, you will be falling at about 120 mph, 54 meters per second, reaching the ground in around 40 seconds! Who would YOU want to be yoked with? 

Of course, the Lord of Hosts, our Prince of Peace, who exceeds all other armies, much like a Navy Seal who parachutes behind enemy lines to help guide more planes. But His planes are filled with His disciples who are ready and eager to save the lost. Erin’s nephew, James, did just that as a U.S. Navy Seal. Back when James was on active duty (which you can read about at the bottom of this Salvation Story), his mission was to fight an enemy he could see. Now James has a new mission—the same as yours—to save the lost and share God’s Word after He became a believer, God’s Mighty Warrior.

The Good Shepherd, our Prince of Peace, lived on earth to save the lost. He didn’t come to judge the world, His Father is who does that. He lived His life in such a way that He never thought of HimSELF. He carried out the mission of His Father who sent Him. Laying down His life, He lived humbly so we could follow His example so we would think of others as more important than ourSELVES. As His Prince, as God’s Mighty Warrior, we never need to be concerned about ourSELVES because God promises to supply all our needs—far MORE than what anyone or anything on earth could give us!! 

It works like this: As we pour our lives and love into others, He pours everything into us! It’s just like the Creator designed our hearts to work since we are fearfully and wonderfully made, made in His own image, in the image of God!! Picture this, God designed our hearts to pump and give oxygenated blood to every part of our body, then the blood returns back to the heart to receive more oxygen. Each beat pumps or gives more oxygenated blood to every part of our body so we can live! Imagine if our hearts didn’t give and thought only of itsSELF?! What if God didn’t give His only Son?