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ARTICLE TITLE: BE KIND TO YOURSELF - Keys to Success (Key 3) |  |
Tuesday March 15th, 2005, 09:38:01 |
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| Author: Bernard & Chrissy Buchweitz for Worship Him Ministries International |
| BE KIND TO YOURSELF - Keys to Success (Key 3) INTRODUCTION: This is one of the most vital keys to success. It may sound like such a simple and almost stupid concept. Why would one need to be kind to oneself? Yet this is such an evident aspect of people's lives. I have dealt with many people and so often they are so hard on themselves. How easily we get disappointed in ourselves or think we should have or could have or simply failed or did not live up to some standard. Often we spend so much time being kind to others or to those close to us, like children etc. that we don't afford ourselves the time to be kind to ourselves. 1. BE KIND TO BE KIND! How can we be kind to others if we cannot be kind to ourselves? How can we love others if we cannot love ourselves? Kindness to others often flows out of a sense of security that comes from within us! This happens as an outflow of the kindness we afford ourselves. I once read the following quote: "stand up so you'll be seen. Speak up so you'll be heard. And then sit down so you'll be appreciated." John Davies. We seem to spend so much time standing up for ourselves, or speaking up for ourselves that we often miss the opportunity to sit back and be appreciated. We say we must do this and we must do that and God says that he loves us anyway! The Bible speaks of the cares of this world and the fact that these cares can throttle us. Matthew 12:22 The thorny ground represents those who hear and accept the Good News, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares of this life and the lure of wealth, so no crop is produced. God wants us to be productive and this scripture indicates that this cannot happen while the cares of life crowd out the truly important! Life can consume us and before we know it we are consumed with pressures that we would never have placed ourselves under by choice. Deuteronomy 4:9 Only take heed, and guard your life diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen and lest they depart from your [mind and] heart all the days of your life. 2. BE KIND TO YOURSELF BECAUSE GOD LOVES YOU Do we realise that God loves us or how much He loves us? If God loves us and wants to be kind to us, surely we can be kind to ourselves? Don't speak negatively about yourself, don't down or criticize yourself. I once heard a story of a man who constantly told his family that he was a bad person. Eventually he became what he spent his time telling himself he was, and it affected his wife and family and did immense damage. You are God's creation and God does not make junk. You are valuable and precious to God and He loves you! Perhaps people have told you that you are no good, useless, or that you will never amount to anything. Over time you have entertained these ideas and been hard on yourself by believing such lies. It is time to stop believing the lies, give yourself the benefit of the doubt and believe what God says about you! God does not make junk! Joshua 23:11 Be very watchful of yourselves, therefore, to love the Lord your God. 3. LOVE YOURSELF The Bible indicates that we are expected to love ourselves. James 2:8 Love your neighbour as you love yourself. We can love ourselves because we are fearfully and wonderfully made by God Himself and He loves us. Ephesians 5:28-29 In this same way, Husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves His wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church. Take time and invest in your life, well-being and health and make sure you guard and protect your heart in the process. Proverbs 4:23 Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flows the springs of life. 2 John 8 Look to yourselves (take care) that you may not lose (throw away or destroy) all that we and you have labored for. If we don't offer ourselves the kindness of caring for ourselves and those things that are important to us we may end up losing those very things that are precious to us. 4. YOUR OWN WORST CRITIC Often we can be so hard on ourselves. We blame ourselves for things that happened. We blame ourselves for success lost or opportunities missed. We often harp on our mistakes or things we should have done when God sees things so differently. God sees all things you have been through and perhaps failed in and He wants to take all those things and work them together for good! Romans 8:28 All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. You may say: 'I could have, I should have, I would have,' but God says I will take your could haves', should haves' and would haves' and I will still give them value by using them for something good! With God we can know what it means to not have regrets. We all have regrets, but God can even use them. Your misery could still become your ministry. Your problems could still become a potential victory, and your pain could become an area of power! 5. ROOM FOR ERROR Give yourself the room to make mistakes. The right to make mistakes is part of life. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Failing is part of discovering what God has. The Bible says we prophesy in part. We are never 100% correct, but that does not mean we do not try. What we regret the most is not the things we failed at, but we regret the things we never attempted. We must also give ourselves time! We have to face so many things in life and we often do not give ourselves time to adjust or make the necessary changes. 6. THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS Even Jesus spent time alone to renew His strength and spend time with His Heavenly Father. Jesus was not always completely at everyone's disposal. There were times when He separated Himself so that He could take care of what was really important. This did not mean that He was not kind to others, but He understood the priority of attending to His own well-being and to be kind to Himself in the process, so that He could be kind to others. If we cannot be kind to ourselves how will we be kind to others? If we can't give to ourselves the time and attention that we need, how will we find the strength to give it to others? 7. DON'T COMPLICATE LIFE! How often we complicate life! Simple situations can become so complicated and so burdensome that we stumble under the load. It can be as simple as taking wrong decisions or acting without wisdom that leads to this complicated life. The result is we become tired and weary - BUT Jesus is ready to meet us at our point of need. Matthew 11:28-30 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. Jesus tells us that His yoke is easy. Easy indicates little effort, thought, or reflection. It means it is not severe and it is marked by peace. It is pleasant, not harried or strenuous, and at the same time providing comfort. He tells us His burden is light and that means it is not heavy. It is such a different picture from what is so prevalent in the world today with stress and depression being the order of the day! We have to learn to make the right decisions so that our lives do not become a huge complicated mass and in the process miss out on many of the simple joys of life! Jeremiah 6:16 This is what the LORD says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls." |
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