Love Yourself

Mark 12:31. And the second is like this: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.

I have chosen to talk about this topic because this week the word love will be receiving a lot of attention. The 14th of February is celebrated as the day of showing love to one another. There has been, and there will continue to be a lot of controversy as to how this day should be celebrated, and whether it should even be celebrated at all. But there is one thing that I want you to consider as you go through the day and the week that follows; and that is “Are you loving yourself enough”

We have been told time and time again that we should love our neighbours and most often those who give this admonishment forget to add the second important part of the saying “as yourself.” In trying to love others, the standard we must follow is the standard we must apply is ourselves. Those who love themselves well will be quick in knowing what is good for them and so transfer the kind of love they give themselves to others.

Loving yourself does not necessarily mean being selfish. It only means giving yourself the best treatment that you can give to anybody. It will be very difficult for any human being to give more than he/she has. By giving more love to yourself will mean that you will have more love to be given to those who need it.

If you love yourself, you will not do anything that leads to your own destruction. Then you will not do what will destroy your neighbour. That is because, by destroying your neighbour, you destroy yourself.

We fail to love others because we don’t love ourselves. The time has come to start fixing the standard of love in the world. That is by showing more love to yourself.