1) Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and;
2) Love your neighbor as yourself.
Now, until today, I thought I had those down pat. I mean, they're pretty simple commands. Easy to understand, but not quite as easy to apply.
As I began to meditate on these two truths, I realized something I had never realized before.
When I thought about loving my neighbor, I never thought about the second part of the command, namely, that I am commanded to love my neighbor as I love myself. At this moment it clicked, I could not love my neighbor if I did not first love myself.
My first response was to think that this was rather conceited, but then I understood. What I must love about myself, is not my sinful nature, but rather those unique characteristics that I possess as a born again Christian. I am called to bear Christ's image and therefore, must love me, not because of any thing I have done, but instead I must love myself because of the redemptive work that Christ has done in me.
After concluding this, I realized that not loving myself meant that I was not loving the image of God which I was called to bear. And not esteeming myself, as the image-bearer, meant that I did not value the image Himself. In rejecting who God created me to be, I am in essence rejecting those qualities which I am to represent for the sake of Christ.
These conclusions are not intended to cause any person, especially myself, to think too highly of themselves, but rather it is intended to shed light on an integral lesson to the Christian walk:
One cannot truly obey God if they are not grateful for who He created them to be.
Without recognizing my inherent worth in Christ's eyes, I can neither love me, love my neighbor, nor love my God above all things.
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