What Does The Bible Say About Loving Myself?

Theresa Doghor

I don’t know how self-love is defined.

I do love myself the best way I know how
I am not an expert on love. I love myself enough to believe what God says about me and act on what God says about me.

I love myself enough to avoid or remove myself from abusive situations and to invest in healthy relationships. I love myself enough to set boundaries in relationships and trust God for direction, for instruction and for perfection.

There’s a place where the bible says, take heed to thyself.

I’m gentle and soft spoken but I fight for faith, I am aggressive about faith but I do the best in me to love others the way God wants. I don’t always get it right but I know the responsibility rests on my shoulders to make the right decisions for me, knowing that every decision has a result. I trust God for step by step guidance and grace to accomplish all He has for me in Jesus name, amen

I believe that destiny is bigger than relationships. I have the courtesy of still having my family. Some ‘lot’ -like people you will have to let go of to enter destiny. Love them like Abraham did, he still rescued Lot even when he would have said, Lot, it is your ‘toro’. Don’t love your family so much you don’t leave Haran when God has said you should.

Does it make sense?

I do my best to walk in love jare!

Eden Sue

So I studied about love two days ago and I found out a couple of things, but this rhema is on a different level and very insightful.but this is what I think sha. I have struggled with self doubt since I was little but lately I have come to realize one thing, self acceptance is a journey worth taking. If we hate others and claim to love God we lie. Since we are all created in the image and likeness of God I must love myself and hence others around me, but the God kind of love and its easy to do because God has poured his love into our hearts Rom 5:5-8. I have got self love. Thanks for this frances. This is my first time here and I will be sure to stick around.

Uje

A lot of people say: ‘I love me’, but its so cliche…because not everyone loves themselves.

Self love to me is the force from within that pushes you, that motivates you, encourages you and reminds you of who you are in Christ…who can remind you of God’s promises if not you? And we need this to survive…self love enables us to listen to the whispers in our heart before going out there…inasmuch as we should validate the worth of others, we must take time to affirm our own personality and self development…loving ourselves should never be an optional accessory. Like Jesus said ‘love your neighbour as yourself..’, if you cannot realize and appreciate the gifts you possess within how can you give it out? In order to truly give, you must appreciate what you’ve got! Self love has to do with embracing ourselves, and with that we’ll be truly effective in loving others…I could say more, but I don’t wanna bore you 🙂

But in all, there should be a balance, loving yourself doesn’t mean you should be self centered and be in self denial…NO, but appreciating yourself even while you remain selfless

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@eloxie

Nice post.

When I was a child, I learned that loving others as much as we loved ourselves meant we had to love ourselves first and that to love from any place other than a heart full of gratitude for who God had made us and how God loved us was hypocritical. Fast forward to adult hood and my battle with approval Addiction and I realised that I was often dry and stretching beyond my elastic limit because I had forgotten the concluding part of Jesus’ ‘love your neighbour instruction which I learned as a child. I was so concerned with loving everyone else and getting them to approve of me that I failed to love myself. Then I learned that balance was necessary. I learned that simple obedience to God ensured that I truly loved myself and then others. So its vertical, i love God cos He loved me and then from there I can show love horizontally to others. And when i love Jesus, its impossible to be self centred cos His love is so rich and full, i cant even hoard it. Reason i check myself once i get overly critical or struggle to love, something has gone wrong in my vertical connection. Whoosh long comment! Forgive me.

Sebastian

Hey Frances,
here is Sabba 😉 Thx for your balanced write-up and mentioning this important topic!

Here is my opinion:
I think it is very important that people learn to accept themselves the way God made them. People need a firm identity, rooted in Christ. Otherwise they will be too insecure and weak to navigate through life. So yes, self-love is important.

BUT that being said I think MOST times (not all times) people love themselves TOO much. Think about it. Almost all sins can be traced back to self-love. Always fighting in an argument? Well maybe because you love YOUR opinion too much. Cheating on your wife? Maybe because you don’t consider your wive’s feelings, you only think about YOUR pleasure. Spending too much $$ on nonsense you don’t need instead of helping others? Maybe because you love YOUR comfort and your life too much. Spending 3 hours in front of the mirror just to impress others? 2 hours worrying what other people might think about you? Well… maybe you’re too pre-occupied with your self.

I myself am too preoccupied with myself. When I wake up in the morning, my first thoughts usually go to myself: my life, my tasks, my feelings, my worries. I have to repent of my selfishness and ask God to help me see Him and see others.

In all, let us remember Jesus:

“3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2)

Frances Okoro

I have often pondered on the verse you shared Ochuko..
Like, the healing that men may do do not show that they are God’s disciples? The tongues, visions…none of those but love, plain, true the God kind of love?
But ofcourse that is it, it’s the love that saved us from sin, everything is built on it..ofcourse.

Well, i’m getting carried away with that command too,its just something I medidate on from time to time..and the love referred to there,its indeed not easy like you said but through God,it can be done.

As for self-love too, you are right, a whole new dimension is usually opened to me when I think in line with how God loves me. The scales of “not been enough” just fall through and I learn/i am still learning to see myself just like God sees me…

Long reply but your comment brought this on.lol
Thank you

Margaret

I have struggled with loving myself for most of my life. Always comparing myself with just about everyone! I will be 40 this year and it is high time I Love myself. As I read this post, It made me think of my own walk with Christ. By this I mean, if I profess to Love God, but cannot love his creation, someone who He gave His one and only Son for, then what does that say about my definition of love? If I can’t love the creation, how then can I truly love the creator? For example, if we have a favorite artist or author, they have usually become our “favorite” because we first loved the work of art or the story that they created. So, I ask myself, if I can “love” something that was created by human hands, why can’t I LOVE someone whom was fearfully and wonderfully knit together by THE CREATOR OF EVERYTHING? After all, isn’t GOD the Master Artist and the Author of this story that I call “my life”?

Sunshyne

God bless you Frances. I stumbled on your blog and have silently been reading and digesting the great things shared and discussed here. I also love how similar minded bloggers e.g gabbyspeaks, doctorkanayo etc also comment and leave links to their blog sites. My time surfing the net is much more worthwhile (a great distraction from gossip blogs and the like). God bless you dear, He’s so proud of you and is smiling at you right now and always, like the proud Father He is to you. Keep growing in grace and virtue.