LOVE – its February the love-month! Everyone wants to be loved and everyone needs to be loved. God has created us that way. As Christians, we are made in HIS IMAGE and that means in HIS LOVE because First John 4:8 tells us that God is love. That means, we have within us the capacity to love others as God loves them, and ourselves as well.

Most of the time when hearing teachings on love, its surrounds the area of loving others – and that as it should be. However, I have seen recently that a lot of Christians neglect taking care of themselves, and that’s what this article is about – loving ourselves by taking care of ourselves. Showing love to ourselves is NOT being selfish; it is taking care of the temple of God. First Corinthians 6:19 says, “…know you not that you are the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own.”

Because we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, we are to take care of His temple to the best of our ability. This includes our spiritual wellbeing by spending enough time with Him in fellowship, prayer, and reading / studying His Word, and praying; and, also our mental and physical wellbeing – such as getting enough sleep, eating right, and thinking right. In other words do you speak kindly of yourself or do you speak of yourself with rude statement? Are you patient with yourself as you learn how grow in the likeness of Christ? Remember, growing and maturing takes time, naturally and spiritually. How quick are you to confess your faults and receive God’s forgiveness? (How quick are you to forgive others?)

In this world of “busyness” we must guard against being so busy that we neglect taking care of the temple of God that we are. It is our responsibility to take care of our spirit, our soul, and our body. This is being good stewards of what God has given us.

Luke 16:10 tells us that, “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least if unjust also in much.”  Another way to look at it is that when we are faithful to take care of the natural body – that is here today and gone tomorrow – then God can also trust us to be faithful with spiritual truths, wisdom, and understanding of His Word.

So I challenge you this week to love yourself by spending more time in fellowship with Jesus, more time reading and studying His Word, more time praying, for when our spirit is strong and healthy, we will also be wise to take care of our body and mind too. I encourage you to enjoy the journey God has you on as you “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. God has good plans for each of us but it is up to us to search His Word and pray to discover what those good plans are. So, love God, love yourself, and love others, as He loves us.