Message by Larry Thacker Jr. from February 6: As You Love Yourself
Jesus was once asked about the greatest commandment in the law. He responded with these words.
“‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” (Mt. 22:37-40 NASB)
I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard people quote this passage and then say something like, “How can you love your neighbor as yourself if you don’t love yourself?” In so doing, they’ve turned Jesus’s words upside down! It’s well meant, but it puts the focus back on us instead of on God and what God loves. Most of what we call self-hatred is really an obsessive self love. we hate those things that don’t measure up to the self we want to be. I have been guilty. You can find the evidence in my personal blog. Jesus didn’t command us to love ourselves. That is presented as fact. He did command us to love others with that same fervor. what would our churches and our world look like if we did that?
