Thought for the Day - Sunday 25 October

Message from Rev Caryl Kyle Minister: Holytown l/w Wrangholm Parish Churches Thought for the Day – Sunday 25th October ‘A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him.’ (Luke 19: 2-6) I was talking on our Zoom worship today about the ‘Greatest Commandment’ found in Matthew 22: 37-39 where it says, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ We were thinking about the last part of the commandment where Jesus talks about us loving our neighbours as ourselves and what that really means and talking about it being almost like a third love command, namely, love God, love neighbour and love self. However, we also noted that Jesus did not mean that we should become so self-obsessed with ourselves that we love ourselves above all else for then we would forget to love God or neighbour. Also he didn’t mean that we should love ourselves so much that we make others who feel they cannot love themselves for whatever reason feel somehow like an outsider. Loving ourselves should come from within from knowing we are loved by God as we are and he loves us as we are and he made us as we are – so we should love who we are! I am sure Zacchaeus would have been someone who was finding it hard to love himself and as a result definitely finding it hard to love others. When he went to see Jesus, Jesus valued him as he was, valued him as a person in his own right. So having seen Jesus for himself and realising he was loved for who he was, then probably for the first time in many years he was able to face himself, to learn something more about himself, and most importantly love himself. No doubt he would have felt some guilt and shame but he would also have recognised that he was deeply loved and greatly valued and so accepted as who he was. So, we should never forget how much we mean to God, he loves us warts and all and we should never forget that until we learn to love ourselves, we can never truly love others. Prayer Loving God, Grant that we may know we are loved. Encourage us to recognise that love is the way and that when we love you as you love us, and we love ourselves as you love us, then we will be able to love others as you wish us to do. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.