Is It Good to Love Yourself?

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. (2 Tim. 3:1-5)

A young woman I was counseling told me that she loved herself, and that was a good thing. She did not like it for the Bible to have listed it as a bad thing.

How can we tell that loving yourself is a bad thing? The other words in the list are characteristics of loving oneself. They are subsets of loving oneself. Let’s look at them.

• Lovers of money – loving yourself
• Boastful – loving yourself
• Proud – loving yourself
• Abusive – certainly not loving your neighbor as yourself
• Disobedient to parents – loving yourself
• Unholy – loving yourself
• Without love (to others) – loving yourself
• Unforgiving – loving yourself
• Slanderous – not loving others as you love yourself
• Without self-control – loving yourself
• Brutal – not loving others as you love yourself
• Not lovers of the good – loving yourself
• Treacherous – not loving others as you love yourself
• Rash – loving yourself
• Conceited – loving yourself
• Lovers of pleasure – loving yourself

There are a few other words that describe loving yourself. Almost all anger is based on loving yourself too much. Bitterness is also based on loving yourself too much.

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13:34-35)

Jesus doesn't tell us to love ourselves. He tells us to love others the way that He loves us. If you want to know more, please listen to my talk on loving one another.

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