“Love your neighbour as yourself.”  

👤Rachel 

Jesus instructs us to love our neighbour as yourself. (Mark 12:31 & Matt. 22:39) If we are to love others as Jesus did, it is necessary to first love ourselves. This is the Biblical equivalent of putting on our own oxygen mask first before we assist others. If we don’t attend to our needs first, we will soon become unable to help others. When we attend to our own needs body, spirit and soul this is the oxygen we need to be in a healthy place to help others.

We are only capable of loving others to the extent we love ourselves. If we carry a lot of self-hatred or neglect ourselves, it is very hard to love others. If we are impatient with ourselves, we are likely to be towards others. We cannot give away what we don’t have.

To be the best parent I can be, I have found the most loving thing I can do for my child is to take care of my needs first. I can therefore be present to love him and pour into him in a sacrificial way. When I am running on empty, I am not a good parent, having nothing in the tank to give him.

There are a multitude of ways we can love ourselves, but we all need to take care of our physical, spiritual, relational and psychological wellbeing. To love ourselves well we also need to be ‘rooted and established’ in God’s love (Ephesians 3:17), securely knowing our identity as God’s loved child, receiving his love for us.  

We have a good example in Jesus. He was secure in his identity as God’s loved son. He took good care of his needs physically, spiritually, relationally and psychologically. He knew his limits and when to say no. We do not see self-hatred or low self-worth in Jesus. From this secure and healthy position, he was able to demonstrate perfect love.