The Great Question: Is it Good to Love Myself?

To answer the question posed in this title, we will start by asking another question. What did God mean when He said that we as humans were created in the image of God, or Imageo Deo? What are the implications of this? And if we are to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, does it follow that since we are created in His image that we should love His image equally the same. Well, God addressed this issued when He said that we should not make an idol of His image and worship it. So although He is the Supreme Being, and should be loved above everything else, we as humans are secondary, and we must not love each other, or even our own selves more than God. Having said that, because we are created in the image of God, we have immense intrinsic value that cannot be taken away simply because we are lacking in some area. We could have a personality flaw, a character flaw, be missing a limb, not be that attractive, or even have a mental illness, and we still have immense value and should be treated as such. God told us to love one other, and that simple command should be all the reason I need to obey it, just because God said it.

But what about loving myself? Is it ok to love myself? I think it is even mandatory to have self-love. I think if you despise even  your own appearance, in a way you are saying that the very face of God is ugly to you. That's not to say that God looks exactly like you, but you are Imageo Deo, you are the image of God. To look at yourself IS to see a piece of the face of God. So yes, you should absolutely love the way you look, and you should love yourself, for all your quirky personality traits and all the things you laugh at and what you enjoy doing for fun. You are a masterpiece, and should enjoy yourself as such. Let yourself thrive on your uniqueness and who God made you to be. You are perfectly imperfect. Enjoy your flawed flawlessness. I know it sounds like a contradiction. But you are perfect, just the way you are. I could expound upon this, but I just wanted to share some of my thoughts about this with you, just to get the conversation flowing. I know I intrigue you guys with my thoughts. That is after all why you keep coming back to read this blog, isn't? Well, I hope you have a happy Sunday. Just an update, I got a good night sleep last night, so I am not as irritated as I was. Today is a hopeful day for me. I have peace of mind for the first time in a while. Things are looking up. Blessings on you all! Just more thoughts from the mind of Crystal.

by: Crystal Nylander