Self-love is something we have been neglecting since the beginning of time. Contrary to what we have been taught, self-love is not vanity.  Loving ourselves is a commandment we got from God Himself, He told us this while teaching us about the commandments: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). This is not new to us, lets focus on the following verse: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39).

Each and everyone of us was made with His bare hands, every feature of our skin and every mark was carefully made in detail, every aspect of our personality was cared and designed with so much love. So as  Christians how can we not love the creation, the art of His hands? You should love yourself  because you matter and are important, not because I say so but because He that loved you first thought you were so precious, so special and so unique that he gave up His own life to save you.

Love is the seed of the fruits of the spirit, it takes time and effort to grow, but when it blooms, it produces a firm tree that bears fruits (Galatians 5:22-23) every season. The tree of love brings joy, patience, kindness, goodness and more to our lives. That’s why love is so pure and precious, we shouldn’t take it for granted neither fake it. You can’t give what you don’t have or can’t produce, if you don’t love your reflection in the mirror or just don’t love who you are at all; please tell me then, how are you going to love your neighbor? Love can’t be manufactured, it can’t be bought or borrowed.

Loving you and taking care of you comes before anything, because without self-love we are unable to provide love for others and at the same time, we are doing nothing but going against His commandments (“You shall love your neighbor as yourself”). Our well-being, our energy, our physical and mental health matters so much to Him that He made it a commandment . It is only when you love you, that you can produce love. Love and care for others as much as for yourself, thus obeying Him and living according to His will.

Everything was made out of love such that even before man was made on the sixth day God set five days to set an environment worthy for him to live in. If this is not love you tell me what it is. And after the fall of man, the ultimate sacrifice was made; He left His throne of majesty, became flesh, lived among us and died so we could live. The greatest act of love ever known.

Now when does loving you become vanity? Simple, when you don’t know how to love yourself. There are two concepts of love: according to the world, loving you means sacrificing everyone if necessary, to find your happiness, but God teaches us that love is self-sacrifice. I call it self-sacrifice because it isn’t till we sacrifice our old self that we can fully become new creatures, be born again. We are who we are and have all these weaknesses because we were conceived in the world and try to survive on our own, that’s what we are doing- surviving, and in order to do so we are ready to sacrifice anyone. Self-sacrifice is what we have to do to be free, giving up who we are and being born again so that we might live.

In order to love we should learn how to love from He who is love. According to his word there’s a crown waiting for us in His kingdom, from which we are all heirs. Now let me ask you this, is it possible in this world for a kingdom to have multiple kings? Of course not. But in His kingdom, we are all equally kings and queens, all this is possible only through love (I Corinthians 13:4-8): love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, does not act wrongly,it is not inflated. This means we don’t need to bring each other down to survive or reign. By learning Love from Him, you learn to love you, you learn to love and accept others, you learn to see His light shine in the darkness of the world. Accepting this is the realization of happiness, allowing Him to take control and lead the way in which we shall live: a completely full and happy life.

Loving you becomes vanity when it based off on the building materials of the world, when it becomes all about you and nobody else. I have come across many “motivational” quotes online that basically imply that if you have to sacrifice everything and everyone for your happiness or success then you should. God made each and everyone of us different and unique in our own special way and contrary to the famous statement; “survival of the fittest”, there’s room for everybody. In God’s eyes we are all equal, we are all important and you don’t have to put anyone down to feel that way. Loving yourself and everything that comes with it comes from God and His love for us.

 “My dear friend: when you love yourself, you attract better. Let the universe know that you deserve the best by treating yourself well. Everything starts with how you feel about yourself, feel worthy, feel valuable, feel special, feel deserving of receiving the best. It will happen to you”

Remember, God loves you so why won’t you love yourself?

So, in this season of love, while you go on loving everyone a bit more everyday, don’t forget … IT BEGINS WITH YOU!

With Love,

Thiago.