Self-love often leads people down the deceptive path of self-gratification, but self-focused desires are never fully gratified. Many of the modern movements away from Christian morality use self-love as their justification.

People who refuse to heed their need for self-control often wind up being caught up in hedonism while calling it self-love. Self-love is often used to justify divorce, drunkenness, adultery, other sexual wrongdoing, and abortion.

Self-love wants to feel good. It grapples around for pleasure, but Christ’s love gives meaning and purpose. Self-love tends to gravitate towards self-focus and pride. Christ’s love for me is based on mercy and grace.

The more I strain
To love myself
The more I’m caught
In a heavy chain.
Instead of helping me gain
Inner peace,
It increases my pain.
But when I bask
In Jesus’ love for me
I’m lifted to another plain.

Trying to love myself
Takes lots of work.
Accepting Jesus’ love
Fills me with joy!

Christ’s love for me
Is so amazing
And life changing.
Seeing what a treasure
I am in His eyes
Frees me from
The back-breaking burden
Of trying to love myself.

Christians are sometimes compared to an army — onward Christian soldiers. But no army trains its soldiers to love themselves.

The Second Greatest Commandment wasn’t given to justify self-love but to direct the care and concern you have for yourself toward your neighbor. No amount of self-love that I could ever give myself can even register in my heart compared to Jesus’ great love for me.

Should Christians be self-lovers? A loud voice from Heaven said this about Christ-followers: “They triumphed over him (the devil) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” Revelation 12:11.

If Jesus wants His followers to love themselves, why did He require self-denial? “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me.” –Matthew 16:24.

Why does the Bible put being “lovers of self” as the first in a list of sins characteristic to the last days? –2 Timothy 3:4. The Bible says: “Join with me in suffering like a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” That sounds like self-sacrifice, not self-love.