missionary work. They predicted that within a decade or two South Korean missionaries would outnumber North American missionaries, which is remarkable given that South Korea is so much smaller.
As we drove into Seoul, I was struck by the number of churches. The capital city is said to have the three largest Christian churches in the world. Although just one hundred years ago Christians in South Korea were few, nearly a third of its 48 million people now call themselves Christians. One of the churches I spoke at, the Yoido Full Gospel Church, has more than 800,000 members who attend services at twenty-one churches.
Friends of mine visit South Korea just to tour the churches. The prayer meetings are incredible with out-loud praying and the ringing of bells to signal each new program. Yet even with this strong spiritual growth, the people have high levels of stress because of the strain of long hours at work. The pressure in the schools is also intense because of fierce competition to be the best. Many young people are stressed by the feeling that first place is the only worthyplace. If they don’t get the top position, they feel they’ve lost. I encourage them to know that failing an exam doesn’t make them failures. We are all of value in God’s eyes, and we should love ourselves as He loves us.
The kind of self-love and self-acceptance I’m advocating is not about loving yourself in a self-absorbed, conceited way. This form of self-love is self-less. You give more than you take. You offer without being asked. You share when you don’t have much. You find happiness by making others smile. You love yourself because you are not all about yourself. You are happy with who you are because you make others happy to be around you.
But what if you just can’t love yourself because no one else loves you? I’m afraid that is simply not possible. You see, you and I are God’s children. Each of us can count on His unconditional love, His mercy, and His forgiveness. We should love ourselves, be understanding of our imperfections, and forgiving of our mistakes because God does all of that for us.
During a tour of South America I spoke at a drug rehabilitation center in Colombia. The addicts and former addicts in my audience had so little regard for their value as human beings that they’d nearly destroyed themselves with drugs. I told them that God loved them no matter how long they’d been addicted. Their faces lit up when I assured them, through an interpreter, that God loved them unconditionally. If God is willing to forgive our sins and love us like that, why can’t we forgive and accept ourselves? Like the daughter of the Singapore banker, these Colombian drug users lost their way because, for whatever reasons, they devalued their lives. They felt they were unworthy of the best that life had to offer. I told them that we are all worthy of God’s love. If He forgives us and loves us, we should forgive and love ourselves and then strive for the best life possible.
When Jesus was asked to name the most important commandments, he said the first was to love God with all your heart, soul,mind, and strength, and the second was to love your neighbor as yourself. Loving yourself is not about being selfish, self-satisfied, or self-centered; it’s about accepting your life as a gift to be nurtured and shared as a blessing to others.
Instead of dwelling on your imperfections, your failings, or your mistakes, focus on your blessings and the contribution you can make, whether it’s a talent, knowledge, wisdom, creativity, hard work, or a nurturing soul. You don’t have to live up to anyone else’s expectations. You can define your own version of perfection.
SHINE FROM WITHIN
The psychiatrist and author Elisabeth Kübler-Ross said people are like stained-glass windows: “They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.” To live without
As we drove into Seoul, I was struck by the number of churches. The capital city is said to have the three largest Christian churches in the world. Although just one hundred years ago Christians in South Korea were few, nearly a third of its 48 million people now call themselves Christians. One of the churches I spoke at, the Yoido Full Gospel Church, has more than 800,000 members who attend services at twenty-one churches.
Friends of mine visit South Korea just to tour the churches. The prayer meetings are incredible with out-loud praying and the ringing of bells to signal each new program. Yet even with this strong spiritual growth, the people have high levels of stress because of the strain of long hours at work. The pressure in the schools is also intense because of fierce competition to be the best. Many young people are stressed by the feeling that first place is the only worthyplace. If they don’t get the top position, they feel they’ve lost. I encourage them to know that failing an exam doesn’t make them failures. We are all of value in God’s eyes, and we should love ourselves as He loves us.
The kind of self-love and self-acceptance I’m advocating is not about loving yourself in a self-absorbed, conceited way. This form of self-love is self-less. You give more than you take. You offer without being asked. You share when you don’t have much. You find happiness by making others smile. You love yourself because you are not all about yourself. You are happy with who you are because you make others happy to be around you.
But what if you just can’t love yourself because no one else loves you? I’m afraid that is simply not possible. You see, you and I are God’s children. Each of us can count on His unconditional love, His mercy, and His forgiveness. We should love ourselves, be understanding of our imperfections, and forgiving of our mistakes because God does all of that for us.
During a tour of South America I spoke at a drug rehabilitation center in Colombia. The addicts and former addicts in my audience had so little regard for their value as human beings that they’d nearly destroyed themselves with drugs. I told them that God loved them no matter how long they’d been addicted. Their faces lit up when I assured them, through an interpreter, that God loved them unconditionally. If God is willing to forgive our sins and love us like that, why can’t we forgive and accept ourselves? Like the daughter of the Singapore banker, these Colombian drug users lost their way because, for whatever reasons, they devalued their lives. They felt they were unworthy of the best that life had to offer. I told them that we are all worthy of God’s love. If He forgives us and loves us, we should forgive and love ourselves and then strive for the best life possible.
When Jesus was asked to name the most important commandments, he said the first was to love God with all your heart, soul,mind, and strength, and the second was to love your neighbor as yourself. Loving yourself is not about being selfish, self-satisfied, or self-centered; it’s about accepting your life as a gift to be nurtured and shared as a blessing to others.
Instead of dwelling on your imperfections, your failings, or your mistakes, focus on your blessings and the contribution you can make, whether it’s a talent, knowledge, wisdom, creativity, hard work, or a nurturing soul. You don’t have to live up to anyone else’s expectations. You can define your own version of perfection.
SHINE FROM WITHIN
The psychiatrist and author Elisabeth Kübler-Ross said people are like stained-glass windows: “They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.” To live without
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