"The Idol in the Mirror"

Pastor Greg Laurie....Daily Devotional....August 11th 2010


Jesus replied, " 'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments."



— Matthew 22:37–40


Oscar Wilde said, "To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance." Indeed. And Whitney Houston sang, "The greatest love of all is easy to achieve. Learning to love yourself, it is the greatest love of all."
That we love ourselves is pretty much an established fact. I don't believe it is necessary for us to learn to do it.


Ephesians 5:29 says, "No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church." Some people worship their bodies. They worship every day at the First Church of the Perfect Physique. They just can't get enough of working out. It becomes addicting. They become obsessed with it. However, some people definitely could benefit from a little exercise. Yet there are others who certainly go overboard when it comes to their appearance.


A survey revealed that 94 percent of age 18-and-under girls wish they were more beautiful. And 85 percent of women over the age of 40 said they were not as attractive as the average woman. They feel this way because they love themselves. If they didn't, then they would be happy they were ugly. The truth is that we all love ourselves.


When Jesus said the second greatest commandment is "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39), He was not saying that we need to learn to love ourselves so we can then love others. Rather, He was essentially saying, ""Hey, you already love yourself. That is obvious. Love your neighbor in the same way. And love God even more."


So the sin is not loving yourself or caring about yourself. The sin is loving yourself more than you love God. And for some, their idol—their god—is facing them in the mirror every morning.