RHYTHM - Discovery

    God loves us no matter what, but can we love ourselves? Last week, we heard that God is good and He causes us to wonder at His goodness. This week, we talked about the fact that the way we view ourselves is significant and impacts many areas of our lives. 

    We have all had moments of insecurity. Since we’ve been talking about rhythm in this series, we could say that we’ve all been out of rhythm with ourselves. Maybe that sounds crazy, but there are many things that can get us out of rhythm with ourselves. Insecurity, anger, guilt, frustration and abandonment all throw us out of the rhythm we were created for. When we feel insecure we feel weak, and in our moments of weakness we are faced with a choice. How are we supposed to respond in those moments? What can get us back in rhythm? When we aren’t okay with who we are, when we are off and something in us isn’t right, then everything else is affected . . . relationships, spiritual life, everything. We are created to be in rhythm--rhythm with God, rhythm with others and rhythm with ourselves. The problem is when we aren’t in rhythm with ourselves, we can’t be in rhythm with God and others.

Check out John 4:3-18; 25-30

    Jesus is letting her know that there is more to life than how she is living now, out of rhythm with God. There is something wrong in her life, in other words she is hiding something, and He knows it. This woman is wearing a mask.  He is literally sitting down next to her and saying, “Life isn’t working for you, is it? Let Me offer you another way of living, the way you were created to live.” He is not simply implying that she repeat some words after Him and everything will be okay when she dies. That’s just a portion of what He is offering her. He is implying she needs rhythm with herself now--something she can only have when she is in rhythm with God, herself and others. Jesus speaks into her deepest needs and lets her know that He has the capacity to heal her. Remember, Jesus was gathering disciples . . . so His invitation is for her to come out of hiding and begin walking with Him. He is saying, “Hiding isn’t working too well, is it?” Jesus unraveled her secret.

    To be in rhythm with yourself is to love yourself. It spills out into every other area of our lives. This is the problem with addiction. Addiction to anything breeds self-hatred. The problem with lying is that it means we don’t like ourselves and we have to make something up. The problem with gossip is that we don’t like ourselves so we have to talk about why everyone else is a failure. All of these behaviors breed self-hatred. When we don’t love ourselves we begin to lie and gossip and cheat, but it just makes the problem worse. We get further and further from who were are supposed to be. And the more we lie, the more we have to lie. The masks just get thicker and more elaborate. Pretty soon, we don’t know who we are, we just know the image we’re trying to project. This is why we aren’t intended to hide.

    We can try to hide from others, just like the woman at the well, but we can’t hide from God. He sees us--all of us. Every horrible thing that you are painfully aware of, every bad thing you’ve said or done, every defect in who you are, He sees, and He doesn’t run away. He doesn’t hide. He comes right where you are and shows you that who you think you are isn’t even close to who He made you to be. The God of the universe who created everything, the biggest, most indescribable Being wants to be in a relationship with you. He created you to be in relationship with Him. He gave you emotions and feelings. He created you to love. We are the only things in creation with this ability. This discovery should cause us to realize who we are and to love ourselves and strive for rhythm with ourselves. When we don’t realize this is who we are, we’ll spend the rest of our lives looking for an identity.

Take some time and think through these questions (if you want to find a friend to discuss them with, that would be even better!)

- What does it mean to be in rhythm with yourself?

- Does it feel odd that God wants us to love ourselves? What do you think is the most difficult thing about loving yourself? 

- Have you ever known someone who really struggled to be in rhythm with themselves? What was that person like?

- Think about the story of the Samaritan woman. Jesus knew that to meet her deepest need He would need to help her see that she was worthy of love. Why did this woman feel unworthy of love?

- What are some things that could make you feel unworthy of love?

- Why does loving yourself matter so much?
How does it affect your relationship with other people? 
How does it affect your relationship with God? 
How does it make you feel?

- How do we do love ourselves? How can you see yourself as God sees you? (Note: Scripture is a great way to remind yourself of who God says you are.) 

- What do you need to discover about yourself today when it comes to being in rhythm with yourself? What is the hardest thing for you to believe about who God says you are?