Is self-love for Christians?

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
1 Peter 4:8 NIV

One nature of human is to love himself. In fact, the Bible never commanded us to love ourselves because we already do, by default. What it tells us to love is God above all, and our neighbors, as much as we love ourselves.

When you look at it, self-love it is a worldly perspective and can be dangerous for us Christians because when we highlight self-love, it can be subconsciously putting yourself first before anybody else, even God.

It could mean being self-centered and would lead to accepting oneself even the bad habits and the attributes of your old self. And you cannot deny that this could result to sin.

“It’s so tiring to serve, I should just rest.“
“Others have already so much, I’d just keep this to myself.”
“I like it. I should just do it.”
“This is my attitude; people should just accept it.”

That wouldn’t sound nice when you’re trying to live for God’s glory, would it?

But if ever self-love could mean anything in Christianity, it would probably be pointing yourself to God. Because man only love himself the human way when he feels good about himself, yet hates it when his expectations of himself aren’t met.

That’s why even when you put yourself on top of others, you would just end up getting disappointed. When you try to love yourself with this kind of love, you’re going to fail and get back to feeling unloved.

So if you want to truly love yourself, the best way to do it is to seek God and enjoy His unending, never failing love for you..

When living for God, loving yourself means letting yourself grow in His presence and letting yourself be filled with His love. And let that love fill in you so much that it overflows for you to love others.

To be selfless, to help others, and be beautiful by being kind and gentle, that’s what self-love ultimately means. To kill your ego and leave your comfort zone to love God and serve Him and His people.

In other words, self-love = self denial.

That’s so hard, honestly. But God’s love makes us able to deny ourselves and put Him first. Just trust the process.

In Christ, the only way to define self-love is to fully grasp and realize God’s love for you.

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An encouraging song: I Love You Lord by Passion (https://youtu.be/V4uPwUrCaV0)

Published on February 1, 2020 (Saturday) for Pinoy Devo.
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