LOVE THE ONE YOU'RE WITH

This is an oldie, but goodie from SWM

Matthew 22:39: “And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”

Ephesians 5:28: “So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.”

Most of us clearly understand God’s command that we love others, but unfortunately some of us don’t realize that this has to first begin with love for ourselves. Oh yes we can name the Greek words for love with great pride as they roll off of our tongue “Philios, Storge, Eros and Agape”, but when it comes to loving ourselves we sometimes come up short. One cannot properly love someone else if they don’t love themselves. Loving one self is the basis on which we are able to love others. It is also that which helps us know the boundaries of that love. That’s why we are taught to love others as (we first love) ourselves. This principle helps us maintain a healthy balance when it comes to love. In other words you don’t love someone to the point of smothering them or hurting yourself. People who do not maintain self love can: forgive others, but find difficulty forgiving self, see worth in others, but not in themselves, find time to do good for others and little or no time for themselves, give compliments to others, but find it hard to receive them, see others as lovable, but themselves as unlovable. Furthermore it seems that we become confused with the scripture that tells us to deny ourselves. Some of us think it tells us to neglect ourselves. The denying of ourselves, as spoken by the scripture, is neglecting and forsaking our ways of doing, viewing and pursuing and embracing God’s ways of doing, viewing and pursuing. For instance we tend to curse those that curse us, but God’s way is to bless them that curse us and pray for them that despitefully use us (Luke 6:28). It is trading in of our old ways to embrace His ways and has nothing to do with treating ourselves bad. Loving yourself is self preserving and not selfish or self centered. It causes us to protect ourselves and thereby survive. That’s why we are taught to “save ourselves” (Acts 2:40). So before you run out there and love someone else; make sure that you already “Love The One You’re With!”