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Sovereignty and Self-Love

Each human being ultimately has sovereignty in their own life. Each of us has a place in Yahweh where it is just Him and us. My friend calls it the "universe of two." I call it "I am first."

It is important to understand that time did not start with Adam and Eve one day and then move forward in an endless line from there. Time is more like the inhaling and exhaling of the Breath of Yahweh, and therefore there is a place in the universe where each of us was the first created human being due to the fact that each moment IS the Beginning. Don't get all caught up in being confused by the mystical, just go with it. Because if you accept that fact, then you can accept this: At one point in time, only you and Yahweh existed. At one point in time, there was nothing else attached to you. Nobody was above or before you. No one in your lineage had sown things into your family. No one in your church had established an acceptable theology. It was just you and Yahweh together deciding the path and expression of your life. You saw it all, you knew it all, and you called it "good."

This is why you are sovereign. You and Yahweh wrote a Covenant in which your life was planned and ordered, and it is a Covenant you are still writing today. It is neither predestination nor freewill, which dichotomous theologies have been argued for centuries. Instead, it is a beautiful integration of both in which you partner with Yahweh-Omniscient to create the perfect life for you. This life would be perfect for no one else, and no one else's life would be perfect for you.

Self-Love is the cornerstone of the foundation of Love in the world. Yahweh reminded Job of this in Job 38, when He asked Job where Job was when the universe was fashioned and to what were its foundations anchored. Love is the foundation. Relationship are the anchor points, and self-Love is the cornerstone. It was in this moment that Job remembered that he was first, that Job remembered that moment in time when it was just him and Yahweh. He saw his own plan for his life and knew, despite all of his tragedies and losses, that it was good, that it was valuable, that he had chosen it. 

Accepting your own sovereignty is a step in self-Love. Realizing that nobody else can tell you how to live your life, nobody else has as much power over your life than you do, can be a scary thing. It gives you an omnipotence you may not be ready to accept if you cannot trust yourself completely. However, remember that your Covenant was co-authored by Yahweh-Omniscient, the One who sees and knows all. The Perfect Love. And you were Him, too.

If self-Love is the cornerstone, then subsequent relationships line up with that. You may submit to another's authority as sovereign in your life or take authority in situations where it is needed. You may love other people unconditionally. You may relate to others in any way you like, both intimate and superficial, once you have loved yourself and accepted your own sovereignty.

Too often sovereignty is not in place when we attempt to relate to others. Christians are taught since childhood that they are sinful beings, unworthy of trust. They are told they are separate from Yahweh and need to submit to a leader of some sort in order to grow closer to Yahweh. Somewhere in there, self-doubt is planted, even self-loathing. Certainly you cannot trust yourself enough to relate to Yahweh outside of an established theology. Certainly you cannot trust yourself enough to make healthy choices without the carrot and stick of right and wrong. Certainly you cannot trust yourself even as much as you can trust these other, holier people who are further along the path of righteousness than you. Indeed, these people must be able to relate to Yahweh better than you could. You should just let Yahweh talk to those people and they can relay to you what Yahweh said...

Remind you of any Biblical situations? Mt. Sinai, anyone? Moses?

In reality, nobody can be further along the path of righteousness than you simply because we are all on different, individual paths. This doesn't mean others can't have wisdom born of experience, nor does it mean you don't need to listen to others' advice, the "wisdom of the elders" that was so often touted long ago. Yet, your life is different than anyone else's, and you alone can decide how and where that wisdom fits into your life's path.

Even as having someone else talk to Yahweh for you because you trust them more than yourself is unhealthy, so is taking authority over someone else if you don't realize your own sovereignty or love yourself. You will be codependent, needing to fix that other person, to conform them to your theological view of what is right. You may do this out of a good heart, thinking you are helping the person, but ultimately you have run right over their sovereignty. You do this because this will be the only way you'll feel valuable and validated. After all, this was what you were taught by your elders and teachers. This will hurt both you and the person who submits to you as that person will lose themselves and their own sovereign unique expression and you will never get to experience the joy of that person's individual expression of Yahweh or truly express your own self, who would never want to kill another's expression of Yahweh.

Even outside of religion, people look to others to validate their lives and existence. From the teenage girls who think they're special only because a boy loves them to the fortune 500 CEOs who revel in their successes but hate themselves when the business fails, most people are looking to someone or something else as a cornerstone in their lives. If this person loves me, I am loved. If that is successful, I am valuable. If I have a legacy, I mattered.

But you are your own reason for being. You are inherently valuable because you exist. Yahweh and you chose exactly your life... your body shape, your personality, your natural tendencies, your expression. Even your experiences were chosen by you, though others often have a role to play in them, because in your Omniscient state in that moment when you were first and saw the entirety of the cosmos laid out before you and called it "good," you knew what choices others would make and how they would impact your life.

You have nothing to regret. You have only choices to make from here.

I have chosen sovereignty. This does not mean I think I'm better than anyone, just that I know that I ultimately have all power in my own life. From there I can love and relate to others, listening to their advice, receiving their revelations, and giving likewise. I can decide what does and doesn't work for me, and when I offer advice, I can do so without being offended if the other person decides it doesn't work for them.

In choosing my own sovereignty, I can now respect the sovereignty of other people. You do you is my new motto. I know none of them is offending Yahweh, and even if they are making a choice I wouldn't make or making a choice that is a Veiled vision of Love, I can trust that they and Yahweh have their own life plan worked out. I will set boundaries if I have to, for my sovereignty ensures that I value myself enough to not let others treat me with less Love than I know I deserve, but I do so without malice, without rancor, without less Love for them. I can only hope that they become aware of their own sovereignty soon so that we can relate again in healthy ways as we all grow in awareness and expression of Love.


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