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JBaldwin · #7 (**permalink**) 04-03-2008, 09:24 AM

I struggled with this idea of self-love for a long time, and this is pretty much the conclusion I came to. We already love ourselves, and so that command to love our neighbors as ourselves, as I see it, is saying "love others in the way you already love yourself. Think about others first."

In contrast, our redemption is to be seen as God glorifying Himself in the redemption of a people that the Father brings to the Son, who are converted and perfected by the Holy Spirit, to be presented spotless to the Bridegroom, that He might, in turn, give back to the Father in an expression of a profound intra-Trinitarian Love. Love is explicitly God-focused and even the fact that God is Love is expressed in the sending of His Son and not in the fact that He teaches us to love ourselves

I agree with this statement.

There was another discussion on this thread about forgiving yourself, and I think that there is some connection here. When we look at ourselves, we can only see sin and the guilt we feel can drive us to despair or it can make us arrogant at how sinful we see ourselves (oh the gymnastics that our depraved hearts make). As was already said on the other thread, when we look at our sinful selves, we have to remember that though we are totally sinful, in Christ there is no condemnation. Our righteousness is found in Christ alone.

How does this connect to the self-love idea? I believe that once we have a Scriptural view of ourselves, we can begin to understand the sanctifying work that Christ is doing in us and be thankful for that. He has gifted us with spiritual gifts. Each of us is unique and, and God is doing a work in us to perfect us for His Son. I find great delight in knowing that God will one day complete my sanctification, and I will be ready to love and serve Him for eternity. There is a hope and an understanding that God will complete the work in us. In that sense, we can be thankful for what God is doing in us, and that brings great joy to our hearts. Is that love for self? No, but I think it fits in this discussion.