Do you know how to love yourself as a Christian woman?
The concept of self-love taught by society is not the same as what is biblically taught to us, believers. Self-love has nothing to do with yourself as the world may say, but it has everything to do with God. That’s true self-love.
In this blog post, I will be sharing with you 5 ways which will help you love yourself the way God loves you. I also have a FREE 14-day self-love devotional to help you along your self-love journey.
Let’s go!
1. Love God First
“37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matthew 22:37-39).
The first and greatest commandment that all believers should follow is to love God with their entire being. You cannot truly love God if you give Him half of yourself. You must love God with everything, with all that you are. It is essential to realise that loving God is a priority over loving others like yourself. This shows that to love others as yourself sincerely, you must first learn to love God.
God is Love. You cannot know love without knowing who God is (1 John 4:8). Therefore, when you are able to accept the love God has for you and love Him this way (although it will not be perfect), you are able to then love yourself the way He loves you, and share His love to others. This is the gospel (1 John 4:9-12).
“Loving your neighbour as yourself” should not be confused with you need to love yourself first before you can love others. This is a misconception that most people have. It means that in the same way we take care of ourselves and are concerned about our own interests, we should take care and have concern for the interests of others.
The key takeaway is loving God first is the beginning of learning how to love yourself and others well.
2. Acknowledge Your Sinful Nature
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8).
The demonstration of God’s love isn’t displayed so much in that Jesus died, but it is seen in whom Jesus died for – undeserving sinners and rebels against Him. Yes, that is who we are. If we did not have a sinful nature there would not be a purpose for the Father to send Jesus to die for the sins He did not commit. Jesus is innocent and blameless. We are the unrighteous ones. We were deserving of the death penalty, not Jesus and yet He took it for us as a substitutionary atonement.
It may not make sense at first glance as to how acknowledging your sinful nature will equate to loving yourself. But it is imperative not to associate self-love with the way the world views it, which is becoming “lovers of self” (2 Timothy 3:2-5) which encompasses being self-absorbed, conceited, selfish, self-centred, and self-promoting, which are none of the sort associated with biblical self-love.
Humbling yourself to recognise that without Jesus there would be no grace for the sins you will commit every single day as long as you have flesh that will tempt you to sin (Romans 6:12-14); through the blood of Jesus you have been redeemed (Ephesians 1:7) and are seen as righteous in His sight (Ephesians 1:4); and that whatever you do, whether good or bad, nothing can separate you from the love He has for you (Romans 8:37-39).
The key takeaway is that acknowledging your sinful nature humbles you to love yourself because of the work Christ did on the cross for you.
3. Know Your Worth
“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (Psalm 139:14).
Knowing your worth is helpful to loving yourself because you see the way God sees you. When God created you, it was with intricate detail that not even science will be able to fully explain. God created you with a purpose, your life is not meaningless to God (Ephesians 1:11). If it was then, God would have had no intention to send His Son to sacrifice His love for us (John 3:16). You were seen as worthy to die for, to be saved, to be reconciled to the Father, and to spend eternity in heaven (Romans 5:7-11).
“The Psalmist had scarcely peered within the veil which hides the nerves, sinews, and blood-vessels from common inspection; the science of anatomy was quite unknown to him; and yet he had seen enough to arouse his admiration of the work and his reverence for the Worker.”
Charles Spurgeon
You are a work of art to God because we are “His workmanship” (Ephesians 2:10), the ancient Greek word is poiema. The idea is that we are His beautiful poem translates to His ‘work of art’. When He created you, He created you into a masterpiece, a beautiful work of art. How can you not love yourself? You have to love yourself the way He loved you when He created you, beautifully made.
The key takeaway is being in awe of how God created you and that He has chosen you to live here on earth at such as time as this, leaves you loving yourself for who God created you to be and who you are to become.
4. Know Your Identity in Christ
“14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” (Romans 8:14-17).
When you think of your identity in Christ as a child of God, so deeply loved by the Father that you can call Him “Abba” (Dad in Jewish), with the privilege of relating to Him as Jesus did, how can you not love yourself the way He loves you?
Loving yourself as a Christian means you don’t have to worry if you are really Christian or not because God’s children know who they are. When you are born again by the Spirit of God, you are able to know your status as a child of God; your identity in Jesus Christ because the Holy Spirit testifies to your spirit that this is so.
Loving yourself in your identity in Christ does not mean you get to obtain the inheritance and glory without trials and suffering. In actuality, according to God, suffering comes with the package of being a child of God, as it is tied to our future glorification.
The key takeaway is that knowing your identity in Christ as a child of God who is loved by the Father will help you to love yourself.
5. Speak God’s Word Over Yourself
“Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4).
You cannot love yourself based on materialistic things. In the same way as children of God, we cannot live our lives solely on physical food. We need spiritual food and this is the Word of God.
Proverbs 18:21 teaches us that what we speak over ourselves produces the fruit of that very thing. Therefore, if you speak hatred over yourself, you begin to hate yourself, hate how you walk, talk and look. But if you speak love over yourself with the word of God, you begin to love yourself the way God loves you, flaws and all.
When you are encouraging and gracious towards yourself, that is an act of love and you can see that love manifested through it bringing enjoyment to your whole self and health to your body (Proverbs 16:24). God’s word is spiritual food for the soul. It needs it in order to survive and thrive.
Get into the Word of God! Study it and memorise the scriptures. Hang them around noticeable places in your home to speak them over yourself during the day, and to stay connected with God’s word.
The key takeaway is loving yourself through speaking God’s word over yourself is spiritual food for your soul.
The 14-Day Self-Love Devotional
Do you want to know how to love yourself the way God loves you?
You can learn how to love yourself with this FREE 14-Day Self-Love Devotional, giving you self-love scriptures each day for 14 days teaching you how to love yourself, others and how much God loves you.
You will also be given self-love affirmations that are based on the Word of God so that you can speak them over yourself, including printouts that you can place around your house as a daily reminder of how loved you are by God.
Additionally, you will be able to self-reflect on your self-love journey through the daily journal prompts given to you.
Start your self-love journey today!
Now, this is not an exhaustive list of things you can learn and do to love yourself as a Christian woman but it is a start.
Leave a comment below sharing what tip will you be trying out to better love yourself as the Lord loves you.
Share this blog post with someone whom you know would need help to love themselves.
Stay blessed,
Divine L.
Hi, I am Divine L., your sister-in-F.A.I.T.H., who is passionate about discipling Christian girls to be a walking embodiment of Jesus Christ in their daily lives and to help young girls and woman become who God destined for them to become. It is a great blessing to welcome you to the F.A.I.T.H. sisterhood!
I really appreciate you for taking your time to guide us on how we can love God and others without being selfish.
Thank you so much may God’s blessings and favour always locate you In Jesus Christ name
AMEN! Thank you so much for your comment Cameline! I feel so blessed that you have been encouraged by my blog post. I pray that God helps you to love yourself, others and Him the way He loves all of us. May God richly bless you!