Matthew 19:19 – "honor your father and mother; and love your neighbor as yourself."
The first commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul and strength. Then you must love yourself, and after that you are able to love your neighbor. Often in the word of God, we get commandments. Commandments are divine rules from God. They signify Christ's ministry and Christs love for the people around Him.
For Christ to love the people around Him, He first had to love God and choose to love Himself. Self-love is often seen by Christians as selfishness, pride and arrogance. But according to God, self-love is about seeing yourself the way that God sees you. Self-love is a two-way street. First you must love Christ. Loving Christ is daily devotion to Him and to obeying His commands. As a result, to loving Christ, that love seeps down to ourselves.
Loving ourselves comes from loving God. Self-love is a beautiful thing because you no longer see yourself through the deception and shame of sin. Because of Christ's love, you now see yourself as described in 1 Peter 2:9. A chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. This is who we are and when we see ourselves this way God is the one who gets the glory because this is who He designed us to be.
Self-love is about thinking bigger. It is about expanding our minds to comprehend who God has made us to be. So, sons and daughters today think bigger. Know that you are loved and learn to accept the truth of God's word. Accept and love yourself so that your love can extend to others.
