Love Yourself

February 18, 2021

You’ve heard the saying: you can’t love others unless you first love yourself. No matter how cliched it sounds, it’s true. God created you and finds infinite value in you. He wants you to see yourself as He sees you. He had a purpose in making you in His image. Nothing God does is by accident. God created you to be exactly the person you are because He loves you more than you could ever know.

In Matthew 22:39, after telling the Pharisees that the greatest commandment is to love God, Jesus tells them the second most important commandment: “A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself” (NLT). Jesus makes it clear that to love your neighbor as you are called to do, you must first love yourself. If you can’t see the value in being created in God’s image in yourself, how will you see it in others?

Loving our neighbor is at the heart of the Gospel. God wants us to spread His love to everyone we encounter. But we can’t truly fulfill that powerful calling on our lives if we can’t accept the fact that we have value as children of God. We must look to God and ask Him to show us the beauty that He has put within us. If we ask Him this, He will surely answer our prayers.

God desires for you to love yourself. If you are struggling with your self-esteem in this season, God wants to reassure you of your worth. Walk alongside God in life, and let His love surround you. Realize that God loves you for a reason: you are special to Him in a unique way. You are irreplaceable to God. Take comfort in that fact, and live in God’s love.

Ryan Heathco

Ryan Heathco is the Lead Pastor of Ben Davis Christian Church in Indianapolis, Indiana.
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