The Greatest Love of All?

Whitney Houston’s rendition of the song, The Greatest Love of All, was number one on the “Hot 100 Chart” for three weeks in 1986. The song melodiously informs us from both a psychological and existential perspective that the single most important aspect of our existence is self-love as she renders this worldly wisdom:

The greatest love of all Is easy to achieve, Learning to love yourself, it is the greatest love of all.

This has essentially become the anthem of our present me, myself and I world.  I noted in my previous post that the value set of this present world was birthed upon the idol of self, such that self-sufficiency, self-reliance, self-determination, self-fulfillment, and self-esteem have been set above the value set of the Kingdom of God , wherein those who would enter that Kingdom are  called to deny themselves (Luke 9:23), consider others needs more important than their own (Philippians 2:3 ), and depend upon God for the fulfilment of their God given needs and desires (Matthew 6:25-26).

There are multiple websites on the internet related to self-love, espousing the necessity of it and how to achieve it.  It is presented as the ultimate means to our happiness and as essential to our ability to love and enjoy the love of others.

One site defines self-love as “the act of putting your own happiness and well-being first, something that is lacking in our current society.” Really??!

Back in the 1980s and into the 1990s, the lack of self-love or self-esteem as it was popularly known, was put forth to be at the root of all emotional, psychological, and social problems. Thus, books, seminars and public school curriculum proliferated with ideas on how to address the related issues.  The tragic joke at the time was that we send our children to science class to learn that they are essentially cosmic accidents, products of slime plus time, with monkeys as their distant relatives, but then send them to their next class to increase their self esteem.  A  popular book on self esteem was titled I’m Okay – You’re Okay”, which was subsequently retitled by a cynical reviewer “I’m Rich – You’re Gullible”.

The Apostle Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit 2000 years ago, warns us in 2 Timothy 3:1-7, that in the “last days”, meaning the time between Jesus’ resurrection and second coming (Hebrews 1:1-2), the idolatry of self-love will proliferate, with more and more men and women becoming “lovers of self rather than lovers of God”, resulting in “perilous times”, times of ever increasing trouble and tribulation throughout human history.

The character of these “lovers of self” is described in 2 Timothy 3:2-7, and certainly is descriptive of the society in which we live in today; a society where self-worth is determined by the number of “likes” one receives on Facebook, where the concept of marriage and gender are self-determined, and where in the quest for personal fulfillment and success, the inconvenience of a child can result in the murder of that child in the womb.

The onset of the selfie, (my smart phone has a special app for this purpose) with numerous sites on the internet instructing on how to take a good one, is indicative of the absurdity of the self-love ideology, and that people have actually died taking them, the danger of it.

The obsessive quest for more money, more friends, better sex, better drugs, fun weekends and grand vacations, a nice wife/husband and obedient children, good health, an early retirement, a good education and vocational success are, in much of our society, all driven by the idolatry of self-love.  No real time for God, no real energy or passion for pursuing His plan and purposes for our life, no real desire for intimacy with His person; only time and energy and interest and affection for the things and relationships and activities that fulfill and gratify self, even at the cost of our soul (Mark 8:36).

However, the Bible puts forth other loves as far superior to the love of self; loves that will result in the eternal joys, pleasures and delights God intended for men and women in the beginning. These include first and foremost love for God and our neighbor (Matthew 22:34-40) (Luke 10:25-28), love of the law of God, the word of God, and the truth of God (Psalm 119:97) (Psalm 119:140) (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10), love of our enemies (Matthew 5:43-45), a husband’s love for his wife (Ephesians 5:25), love of righteousness (Psalm 45:7) (Matthew 5:6) love of mercy (Micah 6:8) and love of fellow believers (John 13:35).

However, the eternal God loves us much more than we could ever love ourselves (Jeremiah 31:3), and thus the greatest love of all, the love that makes all of these loves noted above possible, is not self-love, but the love of God (John 3:16), defined and displayed for all eternity on a hill called Calvary and in an empty tomb, wherein God the Son, Jesus Christ, suffered, died and rose from the dead to save and restore to right relationship with God, idolatrous men and women who are condemned under the wrath of God, helpless in themselves to do anything about it (Ephesians 2:1-7).

This indeed is the Greatest Love of All (Romans 5:6-11), and if we truly do love ourselves as beings created in the glorious image of God, to know and love and be loved by God, we will repent of our sins and embrace with our deepest affections Jesus Christ as the one who “loved us and gave Himself for us” (Galatians 2:20), exulting, rejoicing and resting in His love all of the days of our life.

Enjoy The Deep Deep Love of Jesus, as sung by Selah, by tapping on the title link.

Grace and Truth ×