Weekly Musing - Pat

Self-hatred is an indecent luxury that no disciple can afford. Self-hatred subtly re-establishes me as the center of my focus and concern. Biblically that is idolatry.” The Signature of Jesus, Brennan Manning.

Shock hit me as the words flew off the page and landed with a thud. God used that sentence to show me His heart. How many times had I said, “I hate myself.” It has been easy to see it as wrong when I think too highly of myself. The truth is whether I think too much or too little of myself, it is pride and idolatry. The key word is “self.” Mr. Manning finished off the paragraph with a quote from Paul Tillich (theologian and Harvard professor) defining faith as “the courage to accept acceptance. I pondered that quote for several days.

According to Webster’s Universal College Dictionary “accept” means to receive with approval or favor. God tells me I am accepted, forgiven, and loved. Receiving His truth with joy, favor and open arms frees me from the idolatry of self.

Again, quoting from Signature of Jesus: Any spirituality that does not lead from a self-centered to an other-centered mode of existence is bankrupt. For many of us on the journey out of preoccupation with self begins with self-acceptance. In order to live for others I must be able to live with myself. Years ago the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung asked: ‘What if I should discover that the least of the brothers of Jesus, the one crying out most desperately for reconciliation, forgiveness, and acceptance, is myself? That I, myself stand in need of the alms of my own kindness, that I, myself am the enemy who must be loved, what then? Will I do for myself what I do for others’?

I will walk in faith, accepting with joy, favor, and open arms the truth of His love, acceptance, and forgiveness. Join me on the faith walk of “accepting acceptance.”