“Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.” (Leviticus 19:18)

In Christ we gain the ability to fulfill His will and truly live for Him. Jesus taught us that He came to fulfill the law, not destroy or belittle it.

One of the things the law directs us to do is to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. However, fallen humanity can’t properly fulfill God’s will in this. Without Jesus Christ our own efforts fall short in every instance.

We can’t really love our neighbors as ourselves unless we really, properly love ourselves. We can’t properly love who we are without the love of Jesus Christ. He is the fulfillment of all God’s law, even loving your neighbor as yourself.

Some people miss that God actually wants us to love who we are; to love who He made us to be. If loving who you are was not important, the Lord would not have included it in His law. If it wasn’t a part of His will for us, Jesus would not have reiterated the importance of this truth. Every jot and tittle of the law is important. Loving your neighbor as yourself stems from loving yourself.

As fallen creation we lack the ability to love ourselves as God loves us. We can love ourselves too much, putting ourselves above others. Or we can love ourselves too little, devaluing God’s precious creation.

It is important to our Creator and Redeemer that we love ourselves. That’s why He specifically tells us to love our neighbor “as ourself”. The freedom, and right understanding in loving who we are, so we can truly love others, is found from and within the Lord Jesus Christ.

Through Jesus I can find the humbling grace of God that allows me to see the value of others. In light of His love for all of us, I find the ability to esteem others above myself.

In Christ, I can clearly see my own worth to the Lord of all creation. How He so loved me that He gave His only begotten Son to save me, and to give me life everlasting; if I believe on Him. That’s life for all eternity! God must really like you and me, because He wants us around for a really long time. The Lord of the universe has decided that you’re valuable enough to keep around forever! He never wants you to be apart from Him. All we have to do is turn to Him with all of our hearts.

Whatever has happened to make a person hate themselves, Christ will bring healing, forgiveness and newness of life to that person; reinforcing the value He puts on each individual life. He alone determines value and worth. He so loved you that He suffered and died for you. He deemed you worth the sacrifice of His own life and well being.

Part of being a Christian is learning to love what God loves, and God loves you! May God bless you abundantly in His wonderful grace and mercy.