God Beyond Religion: Developing healthy self-love

Mat 22:36-40 CSB  “Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?”  (37)  He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.  (38)  This is the greatest and most important command.  (39)  The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.  (40)  All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”

One of the focuses of evangelical theological dogma is best described as worm theology. It stems from the story of the fall and Paul's writings about the flesh and carnality. While it is true that humanity has a pathology of sorts due to the survival instinct, it is also true that most people are basically good. However, the focus on not trusting the flesh and the depravity of the human heart causes people to develop a form of self loathing. This results in not loving oneself at all. This makes it virtually impossible to love oneself and well, if a person suffering from self loathing loves their neighbor as they love themselves, the neighbor gets no love. 

The question becomes, is there such a thing as healthy self love? My answer is yes definitely. What then should be the source of self love? Here are five points to help develop self-love:

1. We are created in the image of God, we are God's image bearers. Since God is a conscious loving spirit that means that we too are conscious loving spirits. Further, God is eternal, and that means that we too are eternal.
2. We are loved by God and God has deemed us worthy of that love. If we are indeed loved by God and likewise deemed worthy of this love we can certainly realize that we should then love ourselves and deem ourselves worthy of this self-love. It is by virtue of God's love for us that we can indeed assume that God believes us worthy of love and therefore we are worthy of self love.
3. We have an innate ability to love others. The fact is that we recognize in others the qualities that are deserving of love. While there are exceptions, most all people love someone, and the majority of people love many in many different ways.
4. Before creation, God deemed us worthy of redemption and reconciliation. Paul states in Ephesians chapter one that God chose to love us, redeem us, reveal to us and in us "the Christ" before the foundation of the world which means before creation.
5.  We are given an inborn sense of compassion for others. Very young children show love and compassion for puppies, kitties, and baby siblings. They also show love and affection for other siblings as well. Again, I am not suggesting that there are no exceptions but they are just that exceptions to a much larger rule.

Given the five examples above, it logically follows that this is sufficient reason to have a healthy self-love and respect. Why is this important you may wonder? It is very important in developing a healthy self attitude that will eliminate sabotaging ones self. It is an important part of being able to manifest goodness and high vibrations into ones life. This is especially true for a Christ follower that has been taught to hate their flesh. Hating their flesh really means hating themselves. It is called by some worm theology. And as stated above, worm theology is bad theology. If God loves us, it only makes sense that we should love ourselves.

Is there evil in the world? Are there some people that seem to have an evil inclination? Absolutely! However, the majority of people are essentially good and being able to have a healthy love and respect for themselves will increase their ability to love the other, not to mention making their world a better place. For any Christian that has been exposed to life long worm theology, if I am you neighbor, forget to follow the edict of loving your neighbor as you love yourself. I can do without that!