"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. [Matthew 22:37-40, NRSV]
Over the years, I've come across numerous sermons on the subjects of love of God and love of neighbor. But aside from Whitney Houston belting out "The Greatest Love of All," I've rarely heard anyone talk about the need for us to learn to love ourselves. It seems like a taboo subject, something we shouldn't do too much of. However, I would argue that we cannot fully love our neighbor until we learn to love ourselves.
The key to understanding this concept lies in the Greek word for "as" which can also be translated as "like" or "in the same manner." Eugene Peterson's "The Message" renders this verse as "Love others AS WELL AS you love yourself." This means that love of neighbor and love of self are intricately linked together. We cannot have one without the other.
This presents a particular challenge for the LGBT community. We have been conditioned by both church and society to hate ourselves. We have been told time and time again that there is something wrong with us. We are sick and need to be cured. We have heard these messages for so long that, unfortunately, we begin to believe they are true.
When we can learn to love ourselves, when we can see ourselves as people who are "fearfully and wonderfully made," [Ps 139:14] we will unleash in our spirits a power to love others that will sometimes shock and amaze us. Our compassion will run deeper. Our patience will last longer. Our tenderness will grow sweeter. All of this because we took the time to learn to love ourselves.
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