Where did we get the idea that the greatest love is self-love? Not from Scripture! Some suggest that Jesus' answer to the question what is the greatest commandment supports this concept. But look carefully to what Jesus says; "'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.'" (Matthew 22:37-39) There is a distinct order in His words and to interpret "as yourself" to mean that one must love self to love God and others distorts the meaning of this foremost mandate.
John helps us with this in his first epistle stating, "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us." (1 John 4:7-12)
It is in our loving God and others that our love grows, matures, and is made complete. The answer to Jesus gave His questioners reveals that if we are to truly love we must know and love the One Who is Love - God Himself. Our loving Him with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength is possible only because He first loved us. "This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." Our love for Him is a grace empowered response to His love, fully revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Any attempts to love apart from loving God first and fully is incomplete and infirm.
When His love is shed abroad in our hearts we love one another. Our love for others reflects God's love for us and in us. We love others as Christ loved us. This is not the general love for all humanity. It is a tangible active love for those around us. It is a love for enemies as well as friends. It is a love that goes deeper than emotion. It is a choice empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit. To neglect or refuse loving others places us in grave peril, for doing so diminishes our ability to experience God's love and stunts our growth in love. "IF we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us."
By loving God and others we gain a true, proper understanding of self. The phrase, "as yourself" does not mean we love others in the same way as we love ourselves. Such an interpretation flips Jesus' words up-side down. Rather, it carries the connotation that self finds its meaning, purpose, and being in loving God with all that we are and others in the same way as He loves us.
The greatest love of all is not found "inside of me." It is not found in "depending one me." It is not found in human relationships. "This is love - God loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." This is where the greatest love of all is found. Therefore beloved, "let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God" - and as "we love one another, God lives in us and His Love is Made Complete in us."
Keep Close To Jesus
Pastor Gerry