Love Yourself

Mark 12:31: The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself…

I was reading a book the other day by Brené Brown. In the book, she talked about the importance of self-love. As I read, I viewed Mark 12:31 differently. Understand that self-love is not the same as being selfish. Self-love does not impede our ability to love others, but it helps us to better love others. Rethink these words for a moment, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” I believe these words teach us that as we learn to love ourselves, we can learn how to love our neighbor. It is amazing how much we beat up on ourselves because of our size, our looks, our income, our possession, etc. Also, what society expects you to look like is not an invitation to not love yourself. And the times when we fail at something, we can be brutal to ourselves.

Now it’s okay to want to improve yourself, but no matter what stage in life you may find yourself, I would invite you to love yourself. Remember, improving yourself is separate from the act of loving yourself. Do not ignore how God created you. You are unique, so stop comparing yourself to others. You do not have to be the best at something to love yourself. Even with all your imperfections, love yourself. If you can learn to love yourself both the good and the bad, then you can also learn to love others who are imperfect. Love your neighbor, my friends, as you love yourself. I believe the two go hand in hand because we are created to connect. So I urge you to learn how to love yourself so that you can better understand how to love others.

Blessings

Rev. Dr. Timothy Martin