Christians are not immune from self-hatred.
"Self-hate ranges between a feeling of self-disappointment to self-condemnation. We look around at others and compare ourselves and we don't measure up. We hate ourselves for how we look, how we feel, what we’ve done, what’s been done to us, or what we keep failing to accomplish. It often lives under the surface of our lives because it has never been named and identified. Some Christians perpetually feel like losers and seem to continually struggle with anger.
This is self-hatred and it can fuel self-condemnation and feed all sorts of false attempts at self-atonement."
This is how Tony Reinke introduces his interview with David Powlison on the topic of self-hatred. As Powlison unpacks this struggle, he shows us how common it is. Whether it appears as anger toward others, cutting, suicidal thoughts, depression, or harsh words we speak about ourselves that no one else hears, we are not alone in these battles. Self-hatred can appear as an echo-chamber in our head of voices from our youth or social media or our own shame or the devil himself. These voices tempt us to define ourselves by changeable opinions and not the unchangeable Word of God.
Powlison helps us identify key truths to find our way out of our echo chamber of shame and into the light of the Word of God.
Give it a listen and pass it along to someone you think might be helped by it.
Daniel
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