Self love- The single rhetoric that has made the most selfish generation of Christians of all time.
It has amazed me how we, meaning this generation of believers are the most detached from the ways of the Lord. We have the most churches, access to the Bible and more teachings, yet if you contrast us to our ancestors who didn’t have the Bible except for the Torah and readily available teachings, we are sure doing a terrible job.
Why is this? As I ponder over this question, one truth comes to mind. Is that there is no separation between the world and believers. We adopt worldly ideas, expressions and rhetoric simply because they sound logical or play to our emotions.
Forgetting one cardinal Truth, if it makes sense to your logical mind and appeals to your emotions, it’s most certainly not God.
You see, although God created us with emotions, we are not meant to be ruled by our emotions and that is why He also gave us a will to be able to override our emotions.
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 1 Peter 5:8
This is a Bible verse that commands us to not be ruled by our emotions but to apply our will as it is submitted to God. You see, our emotion is the play ground of the devil and until we become careful to exact our will by being sober and vigilant, we are prey to the devil.
Back to the matter at hand, self-love! I know you’ve read or heard this scripture as the basis to justify this ungodly rhetoric. Love your neighbor as yourself; first notice it never said anything about as you love yourself, which people conveniently add to justify their wrong understanding of the scripture.
Secondly, there are no other verses of scriptures that supports this claim. The Bible constantly admonishes us to regard others more highly than ourselves (Philippians 2:3).
How then can it now tell us to love others as we love ourselves, when we are meant to serve others and value others more, sounds like a contradiction to me! Except it’s not.
God is not the author of confusion, whenever we see any scripture that seems to be contradicting each other, the issue 10 times out of 10 is our understanding and not what the Holy Spirit said or is saying.
The Bible tells us that no scripture is for personal interpretation, what this means is that, you cannot just isolate a scripture and make it say what you want it to say. There is a simple method that God has given us to ensure that we understand what is being convened the right way.
If we are diligent to do this, we will be able to guide our interpretation of the Bible.
Of course, the Holy Spirit is the ultimate in opening up the scripture to us but I don’t want to seem ignorant to the fact that not all believers are at the point where they know how to hear God through His word.
This is why, God in His mercy gave us a safe way to ensure we are interpreting the scriptures correctly.
Let me empathize this really quick; you cannot have a rich experience with God if you don’t learn to hear Him and you don’t learn to ask Him to open His word to you. What this means is that, you will not be able to meditate on this word. It is only those that meditate on His word that good success is promised (Joshua 1:8).
Here are some safe practices in interpreting scriptures;
In the mouth of two or three witnesses, every matter is established (2 Corinthians 13:1). Does more than two scriptures corroborate your interpretation of a particular subject matter? If so, you are closer to being more accurate in your interpretation of said verse.
Is it line with the Character of God according to the Bible, not according to the image you’ve created in your mind; because let’s face it, some Christians believe God is Santa Claus, hence He has no standards and would not punish sin. So ensure your interpretation is in alignment with the Character of God including the Old testament because God does not change.
Let’s use the above method to decipher the verse used to defend selfishness or rather self-love!
Does another scripture support self love in the Bible?
Is it in the character of God to admonish His people to love themselves?
I’m sure the answer to these questions is clear!
That scripture is saying that we should love our neighbors as if to say they were us. Meaning value your neighbor and treat them as you would treat yourself. This is corroborated by the Golden rule (Matthew 7:12) and it is in fact the Character of God.
We see this in the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). Jesus expounds on what it means to love your neighbor. The entirety of the teaching illustrates that, to love your neighbor means to go out of your way literally to help someone in need and this doesn’t only apply to a neighbor you particularly agree with. As you can see the illustration was between a Samaritan and a Jew.
This was the state of affairs between the two people at the time of Jesus.
The Jews called them (Samaritans) “half-breeds” and sent them home. The Samaritans built their own temple which the Jews considered pagan. The feud grew, and by the time of Christ, the Jews hated the Samaritans so much they crossed the Jordan river rather than travel through Samaria
Yet Jesus says this is what it means to love your neighbor. So, whenever you hear the rhetoric self love or you cannot give what you do not have, this idea has its roots in self preservation and God has no part in it. So, next time when you hear self love/self care and any other titles it goes by, I hope you’ll remember it is not of God and certainly not Christian.
Until next time, Blessings.
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Ogo Alaku Cathern
Ogochukwu Alaku-Cathern is a passionate Christian woman that has been called by our Lord Jesus Christ to help women discover their true identity in Him. With a heart for prayer and God’s Word, she guides women to know their unique purpose and value. Through inspired writings Ogochukwu Alaku-Cathern helps women break free from the deception of this age and stir them on the path of godliness. When she’s not serving, you can find her enjoying time with her husband and beautiful daughters, cooking, or site seeing. Join her as she walks alongside women, encouraging them to pursue God passionately.
