From Self Hatred to Real Love

What is it to really love you? How important is it to really love yourself? According to the Holy Scripture, we are commanded to love ourselves as Christ loved us. Christ was passionate about his love for us. As we walk into awareness of understanding the love Christ has for us, we too begin to love others passionately as well.

So you see, to love oneself—one’s body including, is central to one’s development as a human being. I hear so much self hate talk throughout the day, coming out of the mouths of men and women. These self hate talk can range anywhere from “I’m so stupid”, “I’m fat and ugly” to “I’m worthless”.

I bet if you were to set out on a quest to understand God’s love, you would begin to love yourself more each day. You see to love others as yourself can still pose a problem if loving yourself is relative. For example, we all value ourselves differently, so we love out of a flawed human nature. But to love oneself and others as Christ loved us puts us in a position to see a love that has been perfected—that is pure, unselfish, forgiving and sacrificial. The more you begin to love yourself, the more you begin to love others as well; you become passionate about people—about the world.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another ” (John 13: 34).