I've never been able to get behind this whole "love yourself" ordeal that the world throws around (and even the church has been picking up). Understanding self value, knowing you have purpose, and not questioning those two things don't go hand and hand with this completely unredeeming idea of self love, in my opinion.
But this morning as I struggled to think why I have such issue with this promotion, it hit me that it's yet another coping mechanism we are drawn to because of our inability to fully understand the perfect and satisfying love of our God.
When we don't know how dearly loved we are by our Creator, of course we seek that love elsewhere, even from ourselves. But even from ourselves, that will NEVER be a satisfying love since we are flawed and incapable. It's not "you can't love others until you learn to love yourself", it's "you can't learn to love others until you've learned how loved you are"! Oh it is not about loving yourself, it is not about loving myself. It is always and has always been about us coming to a greater understanding about how loved we are.
I don't know about you, but this is such an epiphany for me. This is so very freeing, knowing that it's not about my ability to love myself and feel secure in it, but knowing I will ALWAYS be unable to love myself and others without knowing how loved I am and how loved they are.
You can't love others, until you learn how loved you are.
