Chapter one of Biblical Love: Love for yourself

Love for yourself

Romans 13:9 “The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,
You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and
any other commandment, are summed up in this word:
‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

In America, you can go up to nearly any woman (regardless of size) and ask them if they are trying to lose weight, and if they are being completely honest, the answer would commonly be “yes”. You can also go up to nearly any man in America and ask him if he wishes he was stronger and he would say “yes”. Why is it that we always see the negatives about ourselves? If you went up to a woman and asked her how much weight she has lost, she would say a number and instead of continuing to boast about how much she lost, she probably would go on to tell the person her goal weight. When is it enough? When do we need to accept ourselves for who we are? Moreover, when do we need to realize that God accepts us for who we are?

Why is it that we are constantly bombarded by negative reinforcement? We are constantly finding what is wrong with our appearance or attributes and trying to adjust them to what is popular. So there must be something that is contributing to this negativity in our self-esteem. Of course there is! People, magazines, television, school, the internet…etc. All of us are told that if we don’t look a certain way, dress a certain style, or go to a certain school that we are simply “not as good”. Why else would it be that some girls spend around two hours on there hair every morning? Even guys often lie about engaging in sexual activity to avoid being called gay and gaining a bad reputation.

In magazines, I constantly see titles such as “lose weight now!”, “Best bodies!”, “How to look good in a bikini”. Whether we wish to believe it or not, the majority of Americans have allowed this to affect their life in a huge way. We worry what we look like on a date, women carry make up in their purse, men do everything they can to become muscular. It literally takes up peoples lives and turns there heads from what’s important; love. In these circumstances, it is not love for others that is needed, it is not love for a thing that is needed, and it is not even love for your family that is needed, its love for yourself.

Genesis 2:27 “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

We were created in the image of God, every one of us. Whether we are blind, naked, unloved, hated, persecuted, or rejected, human beings are none the less the divine and incredible image of God.

Perhaps “image of God” does not refer to looking like God, but rather, the way God wanted us. For example, if I was to make a bowl out of clay and I had shaped the bowl exactly how I wanted it so that it could be used exactly how I wanted, one may say it was created in my image, not because it looks like me, but because it was my perspective that created it the way it was. And that is exactly how I wanted it.

At the beginning of the earth, this is what God did. He took humans and molded them exactly according to his will, not the will of the person across the street, not the will of the media, but the will of God. If we think about it this way, it helps us understand why people aren’t accepting of others; because it isn’t their will or perspective that is prevailing, it is God’s.

When we were molded by God, we were molded in such a way that we would fit perfectly into his plan. God has a plan for every one of us, not just the strong, not just the week, not just the rich, not just the poor. Every single one of us makes a contribution to further accomplish God’s plan. People in America commonly think of only themselves and what they are going to do. But the Bible talks about the “body of Christ”, and that is not plural. If we are to contribute to the “body of Christ” than we have to think about not just how we can help ourselves, but how we can contribute perfectly to that “body”.

Let me use this example, God molded some of us into a fork, some of us into knives, some of us into cups and plates. But if a fork is all on its own when something more tough comes along, you are going to need a knife, and if something with more liquid comes along and all you have is a plate, your going to need to go grab a cup. You see? Everyone has a specific purpose to serve while we are down here. Other wise, God wouldn’t have put you or me down here at all.

The easiest way for someone to loose sight of God’s plan for their life is to allow others “will” to affect them instead of the will of God. God’s will for us is perfect and fits into his amazing plan. But a person’s will is complete imperfection and can distort our view and, possibly, will contribute to us turning our eyes from God.

So how do we love ourselves? By ignoring what others negatively tell us, and accepting what God truthfully tells us. When we listen to God, we discover a joy that reaches down to the pits of our heart and soul and binds them in such a way that we realize we are truly worth something. Let not things of the earth define you, such as money, sex, power, and drugs, but rather, let yourself be defined by the acceptance and love of Christ.

You might ask why I decided to have the first chapter be about love for ourselves. Maybe it seems like it should be focused more on something like: Love for God, love for people in Africa, love for family…etc. But the reason I decided to start on love for yourself is because once you have love for yourself, you gain love for others and God.

The bible tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves (Romans 13:9). But that commandment is impossible to follow if we do not know how to love ourselves. Furthermore, if Romans 13:9 tells us that in order to follow all of the commandments, we must love our neighbor as ourselves, than we cannot follow any of the commandments from the bible without self-love. This is why I started the book with this, because if we are to have any hope of understanding the deep love of Christ and the deep love we should all strive to acquire for Christ, than we must learn to love ourselves.