The Word of God is all about love. It is the story of God relentlessly pursuing His undeserving people, providing us with the only way to love Him – which is by accepting the gift of His Son, our Savior, Jesus.
There is nothing more important to God that our desire to love Him and love others. That’s why God gave us His two greatest commandments – first, to love Him with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and second, to love others as we love ourselves.
Of these two commandments, loving God is hard enough. But loving others in the same manner that we love ourselves is also quite daunting. The measurement of how we are to love others is dependent on how we love ourselves. And that could be a problem.
Some of us love ourselves in unhealthy ways. We may think so highly of ourselves that loving others may seem beneath our self-professed dignity. On the other hand, some of us are challenged with a lack of self-esteem and a strong sense of unworthiness to be loved by anyone. Both of those portraits would make the second greatest commandment difficult to achieve.
Our desire, and our ability to fulfill the “love others as you love yourself” command rests only in an intimate and growing relationship with Jesus. In John 15:5, Jesus reminded His hearers (us), that He is the Vine and we are branches. If we remain in Him and He in us, we will bear fruit.
“Bearing fruit” is not relegated just to doing the work of Christ. It is also coming to a maturity of our own mind and spirit in which we love ourselves in the manner that Christ loves us. It is not a lofty, ego-driven love – but a love that is humble and sacrificial, and fully empowered by the Holy Spirit of Christ.
How are you loving yourself these days? Jesus concludes His statement in John 15 by saying, “apart from Me, you can do nothing.” The further we distance ourselves from God’s first commandment to love Him, the more we will distance ourselves from living out that second commandment to love others.
It’s a beautiful thing when we come to that point of loving ourselves as much as Jesus loves us. That’s a healthy love. And the result is, not only do we look more positively at ourselves, but we are also blessed with the opportunity to share the magnificence of that Divine love with others.
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