When I love myself too much … I start to revel more in the amount of likes on my profile picture than in the creativity of the Master Designer.

… I start thinking more about the praise of other people than how I can serve those around me.

… I start getting annoyed with interruptions to MY day and MY schedule – as if I was in charge of it all.

… I start expecting people to pat me on the back and shower me with admiration.

… I can’t take being wrong, because clearly I am so right.

… My life becomes so important to me that I have to constantly be filling every social newsfeed with its details.

… I crave the affirmation of anyone and everyone around me instead of affirmation from the Father.

When I love myself too much, I am crippled by the rejection of others because my self-image is being destroyed.

… I am defeated in spiritual warfare because I am relying on myself and my supposed strengths.

… I put myself at the center of God’s plan instead of Christ …

And through it all, I am so blinded by this mask of false humility – the mask that can’t hide the oozing ugliness of a self-absorbed person pointing the camera at herself instead of pointing her eyes to the cross.

And then I wonder why I’m so empty and dissatisfied on the inside …

… it’s because we were never meant to find satisfaction in ourselves. We were only meant to find fullness of joy in Christ. He’s the One to break this bondage, this enslavement to ourselves. He was broken to fix our brokenness … wounded to take away the wounds we inadvertently give ourselves.

“Come away with Me,” Jesus whispers. “Come away from the mirror, the camera, the red notifications, the numbers signifying how many people like you or think you’re successful. None of that matters. The only thing that matters is dwelling in my Presence. And everything else will fade away into non-importance.

“TRUST ME – and just let go of yourself.”