Luke 12:50-53
"51 Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.
52 From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three.
53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”"
God's peace is predicated on mankind loving Him, His principles and others.
How do we love others? We love others by introducing them to Christ that they might become born again and then to His principles that make for a holy life.
The world hates God's kind of love. They relish in their own glory and independence from Him. Their glory is not God, but themselves.
The mantra, "you must love yourself first before you can love anyone else", is exactly opposite of what Christ teaches in His Word.
We cannot possibly love others until we deny ourselves to love Christ.
Matthew 22:36-40
"36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
37 And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
38 This is the great and foremost commandment.
39 The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
Philippians 2:3-4 "3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.…"
Just for Your Information: There are no verse that command us to love ourselves! Why? Because we are all born loving ourselves too much. If we love others the same way we love ourselves, that would be a mountain of love, so much so that our focus would not be on ourselves at all.
An old saying:
"One of the elements of holiness is the absence of self awareness."
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