Did you know God wants you to love you? You might want to argue with me and say, “No, we are supposed to be humble. Loving yourself is selfish!” My response, “No it’s not!” Let’s see what God says to do. I remember Jesus was asked, “What is the greatest commandment?” He immediately responded, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than this.” – Mark 12: 29 – 31 (NLT).
Did you hear it? LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF! The command from God is LOVE YOURSELF! The scripture tells us that from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. When you listen to someone talk, you will soon learn if they love themselves. The way they talk about others and to others will manifest their heart- felt feelings about themselves. If a person has a negative self-worth, you will hear negative words. If a person has a positive self-worth, you will hear positive words.
Another reaction to God’s declaration to ‘love yourself’ could be, “Not me! If anyone knew about the abuse in my past they would know I have no value and I’m worthless!” I don’t care what happened to you in the past or what you did in the past. As a child of God, you have great value and worth to Him. Why? Because God came down to earth in a robe of flesh and died on the cross just for you! His blood cleanses from all sin that was done to you or that you did. You are now the temple (the house) of the Holy Ghost. It’s God in you the hope of glory!
This subject touches hearts of all ages. God wants us to love ourselves with His unconditional love. His love is not based on heritage or performance. He loves us because He created us and then He paid the price of sacrificial love to save our souls. Because He created us and saved us, we are valuable! When you love yourself with His love, you will know you are not perfect, but you are worth loving. You will be willing to look at yourself through God’s eyes and see someone who is loveable.
If you battle low self-worth (low self-love), allow God’s truth to penetrate your heart, soul and mind. I will say again, no matter how abusive or troubled your past life might have been, you are still valuable to God. His command is, “Love Me, Love Yourself and Love Others.” We can be transformed be renewing our mind with His Truth!
