If the entire gospel message could be encapsulated in a single verse, it would be this one: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). Boom. This is the heart of the Father towards the world. Everything he did to save us, everything he does to keep us, everything he will do, as promised to us - it is all rooted in love. Love is the core tenet of Christianity. This is why it's so important to have a healthy understanding of what it is, what it looks like, and how it can be applied to our personal lives.
I particularly love how 1 Corinthians 13 emphasizes the importance of love and the degree to which it affects our lives:
"If I speak the tongues of men or angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge..., but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor..., but do not have love, I gain nothing."
Without love, we are nothing. Without love, life is utterly meaningless, completely devoid of color, wonder, hope - significance. It is not enough to merely know this truth with an understanding based in logic and reason; but rather it is important to know this truth with an understanding based in reflection and experience (more on this later).
Because the concept of love is such a rudimentary facet of Christianity, we tend to numb ourselves to it. The further along we get in our Christian walk, the more we tend to express our identities as children of God in our works, our efforts for the Kingdom, our spiritual disciplines, our knowledge of Scripture, etc. But we must remember that while these things are good, our greatest and most valuable asset is love - and we must capitalize on it whenever possible.
It is love that made us new creations in Christ. It is love that validates our efforts for the Kingdom. It is love that fuels our spiritual disciplines. It is love that prompts us to know Scripture and abide in God's Word. Our identities as children of God should always be expressed from the knowing that we are loved by Him - love is the basis of our existence. Without it we are nothing; with it, our potential is limitless.
Do you know what our first and greatest commandment is? The Bible states that it is to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Mark 12:30). From this verse alone, we're able to glean a couple practical truths:
Our love for God is paramount to all other things in life,
Our love for God cannot be superficial; it is a love that consumes every part our lives and should be expressed in every part of our lives.
But the second greatest commandment is just as profound as the first, "love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12:31). Firstly, I hope you've realized by now that it is impossible to fulfill the Great Commission without love. It is love that enables us to do everything, even the hardest things like loving our enemies, and praying for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44).
Secondly, I want you to ask yourself this question:
"How can I love my neighbor if I don't love myself?"
This is a question I struggled with for years. I thought that self-love was selfish. I thought that if I tried to love myself, I was doing something wrong... how tragic! So, in an attempt to deflect the love I needed to give myself, I went bankrupt trying to give love to others. It was exhausting. It was heartless. It was wrong.
I love how Mark 12:31 doesn't separate the concept of self-love from true, selfless love; instead, it states to "love your neighbor as yourself," thus implying two things: 1) if you don't love your neighbor, you have a skewed perspective of self-love (because love is to be shared, not withheld), and 2) you cannot love your neighbor if you do not love yourself. Upon reflection, I realized that my experience of "love" had been superficial, so that's how I expressed it - superficially. I'd bankrupted my heart because my concept of love was a continual out pour of superficial works. I realized that the "love" I gave other people was a false representation of true love because it came from a place of brokenness, from a grave misunderstanding of what real love is - all because I didn't love myself.
After having my eyes opened, I understood that until I loved myself by leaning into the love God gives me, I would never be able to reflect love to other people. How can you reflect something you don't mirror? How can you give something you don't have?
It is crucial we understand how intertwined these concepts are: Love for the Father, love for ourselves, and love for others. They are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they cannot exist by themselves without some type of dysfunction being present. Self-love is what equips you to love others. And self-love is bred from an understanding that you are loved by God. All 3 concepts work in tandem as an illustration of the gospel message - as an illustration of the Father's heart towards the world.
Thanks for reading! Reflect:
Is your concept of self-love skewed?
If so, in what ways does it prevent you from loving others the way Scripture commands us to?
How can understanding God's love for you help you to better love yourself?
Song of the Week:
Crystal ❤️