Love Thyself

‘And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ‘

Matthew 22:39

You are important in the scale of love. All the qualities associated with love apply to you. Sometimes we are the hardest on ourselves and we don’t love ourselves well enough. We don’t take care of our health, or discipline ourselves enough to achieve our goals. Sometimes we don’t love ourselves enough to stop ourselves from the things that we shouldn’t be doing.

And often we don’t extend the same kind of grace we give others to ourselves. We treat ourselves harshly and expect the most ridiculous and unrealistic things of ourselves and the list goes on. So is it any wonder that we find it hard to love others rightly?

Either we are too pleasing –overcompensating for our lack of identity or we are too critical –compensating for lack of personal acceptance or we are self-centered or self-absorbed –which is also indicative of a love deficiency. There is just not enough love sent our way.

Love you, Love Others

However, loving ourselves is important to loving people. God wants us to have a healthy esteem and identity that is rooted in Him so that we can love ourselves and then love others.

We need to value ourselves the way Christ values us and see ourselves through His eyes and His promises. When we do this we will realize that we are worth loving, by others and by ourselves. 

And the thing is, the way we value and treat ourselves is the way others will value and treat us. 

Gideon saw himself as less and that’s how he treated and presented himself. But God began to open his eyes to see that he was more than that and he found the confidence to do exploits. Other examples are Naomi, Zacchaeus and a few others we don’t have the time to mention. Beloved, God values us so much that He gave us His son. Isn’t it weird that we don’t value ourselves like that?

If you struggle with your esteem or your identity. Read and discover what God says concerning you and let your esteem be healed and your love be redefined. You need to learn to love yourself before you can learn to love your neighbour. 

Exercise

• How do you treat yourself when you make a mistake repeatedly?
• How well have you achieved the goals you set for 2024?
• How would you describe the way those around you treat you?

Prayer

Lord, help me to see myself the way you see me and to realise that you love me immensely and unconditionally. Open my eyes to the areas where I need to make adjustments in my heart and teach me how to love me.

Shalom