Bible Truths: “Loving Yourself”

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.  For men shall be lovers of their own selves…    II Timothy 3:1,2a

As we get nearer to the return of Jesus Christ, the Bible prophesies that our world will grow worse and worse. (II Tim 3:13)  The Bible tells us that the world will be full of evil men (II Tim 3:13) who will seduce and deceive the world at large.  These false teachers are described as having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.  (II Tim 3:5)  The Third Chapter of Second Timothy begins with a list of 19 things that will be prevalent in these last days before the return of Christ.  The first thing listed is this: Men shall be lovers of their own selves.

In 2001, Toby Keith reached the top of the country charts with his song “I Wanna Talk About Me”.  This song’s chorus goes like this: “I wanna talk about me, I wanna talk about I, I wanna talk about #1…”  This song is an anthem for self love.  A quick web search on “loving yourself” will bring up a site that gives “24 steps to properly loving yourself”.  Some of the suggestions are as follows: Forgive Yourself, Post positive messages around your house such as “I Am Beautiful”, Sit in front of the mirror, Hug yourself, Be yourself, Trust yourself, Think of 5 positive words that describe you, Treat yourself like you would treat your best friend, Nurture yourself, and Stop criticizing yourself.  On Oprah Winfrey’s website there is an entire article entitled “Loving Yourself”.  We are told that “loving yourself first is the most important thing you can do” and that one should “fall in love with yourself.”

I think that all would agree that we live in a culture in which loving yourself is not only accepted, it is expected.  Once again, then, the Bible, written 2000 years ago, has been proven accurate.  It is though Paul, the writer of these words, was living in the year 2012.  The Bible, however, states that loving yourself is a dangerous thing and that it is, in fact, a bad thing.  What, then, does the Bible say our attitude should be towards ourselves?

The Bible teaches that nothing should be done for our own glory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.  (Phil 2:3)  A Christian should not want to “Talk About Me”, but rather to talk about others.  A Bible follower will not be worried about his self-esteem, but rather he will esteem others.  Our flesh wants us to love ourselves, the world teaches us to love ourselves, but the Bible teaches us to love others.

Jesus was our ultimate example of this.  He, being in the form of God…made Himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant…He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.  (Phil 2:6-8)  Jesus Christ put the welfare of others ahead of His own welfare.  He esteemed others better than Himself.

Therefore, when He tells us that the greatest in His kingdom will be those that are servants here on earth, we can trust Him.  When His Word teaches us to humble ourselves, we can look to His example.  When we are told to love others before ourselves and to look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others, we know that these are not idle words.  The message of the Bible directly opposes the message of the world we live in.  We are not to love ourselves, but rather, love others.