The power of self love (Part 1)

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:39

The commandments of loving God and loving others are well known to us. There's one relationship we may neglect, which is self-love. We may misconceive self-love as selfishness, or some religious teachings hold that we should deny ourselves and view "self love" as evil. 

Self-love is not the same as being self-centered or selfish. Selfish individuals think about themselves all the time and have difficulty putting others before themselves or showing love. For example, a selfish person seems to have a leaky love tank and their tank is always empty. 

Even those who are not selfish, and always give to others, will burn out at a certain point as they don't tend to their own needs, and are so hard on themselves that they can't receive God's love. 

Alternatively, someone with a true sense of self-love has a full love tank because they receive love so they can "flow" it to others. In my opinion, the key difference between self-love and self-centeredness is the ability to "receive" and "flow" love to others. 

self-love is so powerful because it allows us to see ourselves as God sees us. It provides healthy self-acceptance so we are at peace with ourselves, and our value and worth are rooted in God's love, not our merits or performance. 

In this way, self-love is truly empowering, as it provides us with healthy self-esteem and embraces our identity in Christ. Our most powerful position in this life is that we are God's sons and daughters who are loved by God, so no matter what our earthly status or job responsibilities are, we are empowered to fulfill God's purpose. It affirms our true selves, embraces our flaws and imperfections, and allows us to live in freedom and peace. Despite bad things and failures, we can separate the circumstances from our worth. 

Even though we know that self-love is powerful, it may be difficult for us to experience it, either because we have not been loved or trained to love, or because we simply do not have a good reference to it. Moreover, since our identity in Christ is so powerful, the enemy will use this tactic to attack us: "We are our own worst enemies." Part 2 will discuss the enemy's strategy.

Blessing prayer: May we be restored to a healthy relationship with ourselves and your love fill up our love tanks. In Jesus’ name, Amen.