"I Love Me Some Me"

I Love Me Some Me

Matthew 22:37-39

Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38  This is
the first and greatest commandment.  39  A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ (NLT)

I want to begin with two thought provoking questions:

Question #1: Do you love yourself?

Question #2: Should you love yourself?

What I want us to learn today is that the decision to love and the demonstration of love in action must first be
applied to ourselves, before we can effectively apply it to others.

You Ready? Let’s Go!!

Let’s look again at Jesus’ answer to the question “which is the most important commandment?”
Jesus’ answer was: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
In that answer, we see that Jesus has given us two great love commandments that summarize our prime
responsibility to our Creator and to our fellow humans – Love God and love people.

Notice that each law was given with a qualifier to help us know how to love God and others.

We are to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind.

We are to love our neighbor as ourselves. What does it mean for us to “love your neighbor as
yourself”?

Paul’s words in Ephesians 5:28 parallel Jesus’ command: “husbands ought to love their wives as
their own bodies.”

In other words, our love for others is to be patterned after our love for ourselves.

So here it is we are called to love God and worship Him, we are called to love our neighbors and we strive and
work at that, but what we never focus on is that we too are called to love ourselves

“Wait a minute!” someone might argue, “That’s not biblical, is it? We’re not supposed to love ourselves.
Doesn’t the Bible command us to deny ourselves and take up our cross? Didn’t Jesus say that if I love my life, I will
lose it? Isn’t self-love right up there with pride and conceit? And shouldn’t we avoid those things?”
Not Self-Centered Love: Not stuck up, prideful, egotistical, boastful, always complimenting yourself.
The Scriptures are clear on being against that train of thought:

2 Timothy 3:1-2 

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.  2  People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of
money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, (NIV)

Proverbs 21:4

Haughty eyes, a proud heart, and evil actions are all sin. (NLT)

Galatians 6:3 

If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. (NLT)

Proverbs 27:2 

Let someone else praise you, not your own mouth – a stranger, not your own lips. (NLT)

But if there is a command to love others as you love yourself, you can’t give what you don’t have!

You have to love you first

There is a healthy, necessary place you need to have as a child of God, understanding the reason behind why you
should love yourself. Because you are made in the image and the likeness of God

And I am not simply referring to the shallow love only of simply liking the way you look, though you should…

Psalm 139:14

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. (NIV)

The start of loving yourself and then moving into loving others has to begin with realizing the Love of God

1 John 4:19

We love him, because he first loved us. (NIV)

Romans 5:8

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (NIV)

When you love yourself, then you are mirroring what God has for you. That means when you love yourself there are
some things that you should not walk in:

Love Cast Out All Fear

1 John 4:16-18

And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in
God, and God in him 17  Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment;
because as He is, so are we in this world.  18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear
involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

If I am not afraid I can go boldly to the throne room and find grace = Grace is God’s unmerited favor; free and
undeserved

If I am starting in a place that I am loved by God then I do not have to be in torment

Things That Torment Us

Low-self Esteem – But God deals with that in one illustration with Moses… He states I can’t be what
you called me to be. God said I made you that way. Low self-esteem; always seeing yourself as a failure,
or less than those around you.

Self-rejection; not accepting yourself, always beating up on yourself, not happy with the person that God
made you, etc.

Self-hatred; hating the person who God made in you, considering yourself ugly, dumb, clumsy, etc.

Unforgiveness or bitterness; when a person continues to hold things against themselves, such as something
in their past that was embarrassing, gross, or that they are still ashamed of (even after repentance).

1 John 1:9

But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

Being hard on oneself; always beating up on yourself mentally, physically, emotionally, etc. Always seeing
yourself as worthless, or pushing to reach irrational goals just to feel good about yourself.

The man who was tormented was one who was tormented by demons and he cut himself and threw himself in the
fire and water.

Mark 9:22

The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if you
can.” (NLT)

It’s the will of the devil to cause you to do harm to yourself. That’s why I don’t like to hear people say
negative things about themselves!

Feeling ugly or stupid; seeing yourself as ugly, worthless, stupid, no good for nothing, etc.

Proverbs 19:8 (ESV)

Whoever gets sense loves his own soul; he who keeps understanding will discover good.

You give me your mess; I’m going to give you my mercy

You give me your grumblings; I’m going to give you my grace

You give me your errors; I’m going to give you my eraser

You give me your sin; I’m going to give you my

Close

Peter had to realize that if you Love God then you will be able to feed sheep because you see that God has forgiven
and loved you. So love yourself so you can move with confidence that God has equipped you to love others

John 21:15-17

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than
these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” 16  Again Jesus said, “Simon
son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my
sheep.” 17  The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus
asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” (NIV)

Jesus reinstated Peter and will has reinstated you

1 John 4:19

We love him, because he first loved us.
Now, you have the RIGHT to say. I Love Me Some Me!!