How many of us know the origin of St. Valentine’s day? Go and do some research on it as it may teach us some selfless love. Later this month, we will be looking at four ways to love God but also remember that Jesus Christ shrunk the commandments to two main ones. This month as we celebrate the month of love, we look at the second commandment.
ove others as well as you love yourself; that simply means you can only give the love you have. You can only love others as well as you love yourself. So let’s look at it this way, if you don’t love yourself enough – you can’t love others.
Do you love yourself? Not a selfish vain love but one that truly cares about your state of being. What value have you placed on you? Do you realize just how much value God places on you? Just how much He loves you? If you could only see this, it will lead you to loving yourself well. John 3:16 says that God so loved the World (you) that He gave His only begotten Son – God gave us His best. That’s the extent of His love and Jesus gave His life for us too that we may be reconciled to the Father. What wonderful love! First realization for loving ourselves well is recognizing and accepting the love of the Father through Jesus Christ.
A closer walk with God borne out of a deep commitment to knowing and loving Him also releases us to see ourselves as God sees us. In this comfort, we extend love to others as we see and love ourselves in Christ.
I understand that abusive relationships, failed marriages, traumatic childhood memories may have perverted our views of ourselves. We may have carried this view into our daily interactions and treat others as we deem fit. Today, shake off that perverted view. Look at yourself through the loving eyes of the Father and start to appreciate your beautiful and wonderfully made self. You are unique and created for signs and wonders. As you start to love yourself as God loves you, you start to treat others as well as you treat yourself. The basis for treating others well is God’s love dwelling in you and you expressing it to others.
