Love of Self Prevents Cold Love

Love of Self Prevents Cold Love

I would like to circle back around to the topic of the loving of self. I feel like I have explored intently the issue of love grown cold and how destructive it is to ourselves and our world. But all this cold love stems from the absence of loving God and loving self.

Love of Self

The Word commands us, “You are required to love God and love yourself whether or not another single soul on this earth loves you. Further, you then love your neighbor as yourself.” This is not just a biblical truth, it is a living principle and reality. And I know that all biblical truths are, but sometimes we need a reminder that it’s actuality and not merely theology.

The fact is simply that I can’t love you unless I love myself. It’s only to the degree that I love myself that I will ever show you love. And if I don’t love God, forget about it. My life is vanquished. Our love for God is reflected in our love for self. How can I love the God who created me and not love what He created? I can’t! So if I don’t love me, it is probably a huge indicator that I don’t love God either.

This world’s cold love stems from a failure to love God and self. Our cold love is the byproduct of our lack of love for God and self. We build hatred against ourselves and for the God who made us. We hate our bodies, our weakness, our limitations, our story and we blame it on Him. And from this chilling state of hatred, we proceed to ice the world with cold love. Sure, we can be worn down by the endless parade of evil’s increase, but as I stated at the beginning of this series of posts, the love for self and God can thrive even in the worst circumstances. I can remain intact and whole because of my commitment to love on the stage that God has set. I love my God and the “me” He has created.

Cold Love and Love of Self

Cold love doesn’t happen externally first, because it isn’t a reaction to my circumstances. It is the reflection of my internal dearth of love. This is why we must remain committed to LOVE our God and self, and then stem the tide of cold hearts and cold love. I’m required to love God and love myself whether or not another single soul on this earth loves me. And with this commitment, I will see the God who is Love manifest mightily in my life.