I've heard this phrase spouted on more than one occasion recently:
"You can't love until you love yourself."
In many ways this maxim is considered sacrosanct as if it were taken straight from Scripture itself. But I assure you that it is not only not from Scripture, it is, in fact, un-scriptural in content.
No where does God say that we should love ourselves in order to love others. So say so is in fact a contradiction of the two great commandments (Matt. 22:37-40).
In reference, then, to this statement I thought it might be a fruitful endeavor to consider its worth.
At the onset, I must be asserted that there are at least two opposite ways to understand this sentiment.
The first is to think of self-love as a self-desiring, self-satiating, latent narcissism, where the individual and his/her needs, wants, and desires, are put before anything else. If this is what we mean by this statement then it must be said that it is unequivocally un-scriptural, un-godly, and opposed to the Gospel of Christ. Plain and simple, this is idolatry.
On the other hand, if what we mean by this statement is that we treasure and cherish the Giver of life for making us, then, by jove, we have entered into worship of God and not the worship of self.
Think of it logically: if love another is about laying down your life for the other, then you would be at odds, naturally, with loving anyone else at all times if you held to the maxim of loving yourself in order to love another. After all, you cannot hold to two contradicting understandings of love. In this case, you cannot love another as an extension of loving yourself. Instead, you love yourself through loving another.
Consider the testimony of Christ, who loved His creation so much that in obedience to God He laid down His life for the good of mankind. If He was concerned primarily with loving Himself He wouldn't have died for us. Thank God, then, that we are not called to love ourselves but we are called to love God and to love one another!
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