1610) Someone said to me once, Too much of anything can be bad. In my literal mind, I refuted this statement: How can too much of God be a bad thing? I shake my head at the black and white only mentality I had in my youth. This wasn’t the only lopsided mentality I had years ago. The idea that there are only two sides to everything and they are the extremes. Yes, I know there is truth and there is falsehood. There is God’s salvation and false faith. I’m not really thinking of these sorts of things.

Many Christians believe that self-acceptance is synonymous with selfishness. Can this be true? Of course, but is it always? David tells us in Psalm 139:14 we are fearfully and wonderfully made and this can be a hard truth to embrace.

When I look back on a day, I will see first everything I did and said wrong. I will cast judgment on these and sit down, defeated. Is it a good thing to evaluate our actions? Yes, but when we err on the extreme of only seeing the wrong, we are out of balance. Is this how God sees us? Does he only see the flaws? If so, how does grace play into our lives?

Having self-acceptance doesn’t have to mean I make myself  a priority (yet sometimes I should). It means I recognize the flaws I have and yet, God loves me. This outlook makes God’s love and grace so much more beautiful.  Accepting ourselves as we are, lends itself to admitting our mistakes, learning from them and going on, covered in grace.

Too much self-acceptance can be bad but so can too much self-judgment.