Devotional Part 7

30 Mar 2021

Mark 12:23-34

The greatest commandment is love.

• Love of God with all you are and have
• Love of neighbour as oneself

Notice that on both accounts the love to which we are commanded is an outward love, the love of other.

The world tells us that we must love ourselves; yes we are to love others but we must love ourselves before we are capable of loving others.

Self love is the way of the world, and the way of the world is opposed to God. The way of the world is the way of the flesh. The way of the flesh is opposed to God.

Self love is the way of the flesh and it must be rejected as such. It is to put the self first in all things. It is to be true to yourself and pursue your own happiness and self fulfilment. This is self love and self care.

In this way, self love and self loathing are the same. Both put the self foremost in the thoughts of the individual. Both are enamoured with the self, both are inwardly self focussed, and as such both are born of selfishness.

In his book The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness, Tim Keller rightly notes that the Gospel does not cause us to think less of ourselves, “oh filthy worm that I am” etc. Instead, it empowers us to think of ourselves less.

We need to shift our focus from the self and onto God. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. We need to replace the love of self with the love for God and let that love empower us to then in turn love our neighbours. To do so is to turn from the flesh.