Deny self, take up the cross and follow Him.
I am always amazed at folks saying "If the Lord loves me I must love myself." That is straight out of Maslows heirchy of self actualization. Maslow, a Godless atheist, perverts the word of God to twist the meaning of scripture to his own end. To assert that I must first love myself before anyone else can love me is deceitful,....then to ascribe as ordered from Jesus Himself. So.....the logical conclusion is that the price paid by Jesus on the cross defines my value. I don't think so. Jesus love me, not because of me, but In Spite of me.....not because of who I am,....but because of who He is.....God is love, God is kind, God is longsuffering, God is just,....but God is a consumminng fire bringing vengence on those who know not God.
What saves a Christian in this context, or any context, is the shed blood of Jesus and his death, burial, and resurrection, conquering death, hell, the devil and the grave. No exceptions.
The problem is not that we do not love ourselves enough, as the New Agers teach, but that we love ourselves too much. Call it selfishness or self-idolotry. Confound yourselves if you wish, but no man ever yet hated his own flesh. Get a STrongs' Concordance and exegete "hating his own flesh". It is really very simple.
And yes, Jesus did say, "Love your neighbors as yourselves." Love the Lord God with all of your heart, mind, soul, body, and spirit." He also says, "Love not the World, neither the things in the world. If any man love the world the love of the father is not in him. For all that is of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life is of the world and the world passeth away, but the things thereof, but he doeth the will of God abitheth forever.
Correction accepted
C.S. Lewis would have had a few clarifications also
He argued strongly that there was within a person Desire.
It’s existence cannot be denied, it is a part of us.
Efforts to direct desire to the things of this earth,
such as possessions, errors of the flesh, greed, and pride,
invariably lead to injury, harm, and a deterioration of self.
In my life on Earth, I have a 100% correlation coefficient with this.
If, after a long path of attempting to find meaning to Desire,
one comes to the realization that directing
Desire to things that are HERE invariably leads to harm,
one eventually concludes, using Reason, that this thing,
which cannot be denied, Desire, has no meaningful target HERE,
and either one finds Despair,
or one finds that the meaningful target for Desire is NOT HERE
The only meaningful target for Desire in our hearts is, as Jesus is recorded to say;
Love the Lord God with all of your heart, mind, soul, body, and spirit.
And the meaningful use for Love in this Earthly frame is also recorded from Jesus;
Love your neighbors as yourselves.
We cannot learn to meaningfully love ourself or others
Or do so withour error,
without turning all of ourselves to the Lord God.
Once we are taught and cleansed from error,
An act requiring surrender of our damaged self,
Self Love, and Love of Others, are actually the same thing,
a projection of Our Lord’s Love for us
(my interpretation, be it as it may)
Scripture is not my strong suit
This awareness however leaves no place for believing
I am "Good" or "Worthy" of Love
From this standpoint Love is a free gift
Not a thing earned, deserved, or demanded,
Or expecting anything in return, except Love.
Yup, that works