Self-love is a topic that is often misunderstood. Many people think that it means being selfish or thinking too highly of oneself. However, true self-love is actually the opposite. It is about accepting and valuing yourself exactly as you are. When you love yourself, you are able to treat yourself with compassion and respect. You no longer need the approval of others in order to feel good about yourself. In this blog post, we will explore what the Bible says about self-love. We will look at a few short verses and discuss how they can help us learn to love ourselves more deeply.
Scripture about Self-Love
10 Bible Verses about Self-Love
Ephesians 5:29 ESV
For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,
2 Timothy 3:1-5 ESV
But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
Psalm 139:14 ESV
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 ESV
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Matthew 22:37-39 ESV
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Mark 12:31 ESV
The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
John 15:12 ESV
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
2 Timothy 1:7 ESV
For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
Proverbs 31:30 ESV
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
Philippians 2:3 ESV
Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
Romans 5:8 ESV
But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Source: OpenBible.info
Scripture about Self-Love KJV
The Bible has plenty to say about self-love, and it’s clear that God wants us to love ourselves. In Matthew 22:39, Jesus said, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” And in 1 Corinthians 13:4-5, we’re told that “love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful.”
FAQ about Self-Love in the Bible
The Bible doesn’t use the term “loving yourself.” However, it does talk about self-love in a few places. For example, in 1 Corinthians 13:5, it says that love “does not seek its own interests.” In other words, love is not focused on itself. Instead, it’s focused on others. So when it comes to loving yourself, the Bible would say that you should focus on others instead of yourself. This doesn’t mean that you should neglect your own needs; rather, it means that you should put the needs of others before your own. In fact, the Bible says that “greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13).
Yes, God does tell us to love ourselves. In fact, the Bible says that “love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). So, by extension, we are also told to love ourselves. It’s important to remember that “love” is not the same thing as “admiration”. We can admire others while still feeling loving towards them. However, it’s impossible to truly love others if we don’t first love ourselves. After all, how can we give away what we don’t have?
Self-love is the key to a happy and fulfilling life. When we love ourselves, we are able to give and receive love from others more easily. We also tend to make better decisions for ourselves, both in terms of our personal health and well-being and in terms of our relationships with others. Of course, it is not always easy to love ourselves. We live in a world that sends us messages telling us that we are not good enough, that we need to change in order to be accepted. It can be hard to swim against the tide and believe in our own worthiness.
It’s a good question. The Bible does talk about how God loves us. For example, in John 3:16, it says “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” So how can we love ourselves the way God does? Probably the best way is to think about how much God loves us. He loves us so much that he was willing to give up his own Son for us. That’s pretty amazing!