The Labour of Self Love

Echoes of Truth

April 1st

Theme: The Folly of Self

 

‘The labour of self-love is a heavy one indeed. Think of yourself, watch yourself, talk about yourself, use the pronoun ‘I’ as often as possible, expect to be appreciated, be suspicious of what others think, never forgive a criticism, trust nobody but yourself- do all this, and you will be sure to be miserable.’ A.W. Tozer

 

 

Look around you, sister. What do you see today? Self, self, self. Everyone is living to make a name for themselves, to carve out an image, to parade “their truth,” and to flaunt “the goodness of God” in a way that exalts self rather than God.

 

See what 1 Timothy 3:1-2 says in the Living Bible translation,

 

‘You may as well know this too, Timothy, that in the last days it is going to be very difficult to be a Christian. ² For people will love only themselves and their money; they will be proud and boastful, sneering at God, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful to them, and thoroughly bad.’

 

When Paul wrote these words to Timothy, he was warning him of a reality that would grow darker as the world moved closer to the end. And if we look around today, we see it everywhere: self-love, self-promotion, self-preservation, and self-enthronement.

 

We live in a time when people are told that the highest virtue is to “love yourself first.” 

 

The culture around us celebrates selfishness under the banner of “self-care.” 

 

Social media feeds are full of people boasting, parading, and craving attention. 

 

Catch up on the Biblical Womanhood files here

 

Even within the church, there is a subtle shift. We have deviated from carrying the cross to carrying an image; from denying self to advertising self.

 

But the Word of God says that “In the last days perilous times shall come.” 

 

Why perilous? Because when self is on the throne, Christ cannot reign. A man full of himself has no room for God. A woman preoccupied with herself has no capacity to truly love her neighbor. The peril is not just in the evil “out there,” but in the poison of self-worship that slowly seeps into our own hearts.

 

The way of Jesus is different. He said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). 

 

Sisters, true life begins when self dies. Real joy flows not when we make much of ourselves, but when we pour ourselves out for Christ and for others.

 

This is not the time to be intoxicated with self. This is the time to be set ablaze with God. Self-love will make you empty, but self-denial will make you eternal. The women who will shine in these last days are not the ones who flaunt themselves, but the ones who have lost themselves in Christ.

 

One other way to perceive Jesus’s call to those who are weary and heavy laden for Him to give them rest in Matthew 11:28-29 is to ease us of the burden of self. 

 

Jesus clearly stated the terms to follow Him in Luke 9:23 as denying self. 

 

The essence of both Scriptures in this light is that when we objectively consider the root of some burdens and weariness, it is inlaid with self-love. 

 

We think of how to pamper, esteem, protect, justify, and glorify the self and all it stands for. All the rat race here on earth is deeply fueled by making something out of oneself. 

 

Jesus then says When you come to me, I will teach you to humble yourself and be gentle so you can take the focus off you and fix them on others starting with Me. 

 

Jesus says, let me take you off self-dependence as you learn to bear a different yoke that thinks less of yourself and more of others starting with Me. 

 

Jesus is not saying individually we don’t matter, if you didn’t matter, He would not tell you to come and follow Him.

 

Instead, He is saying it is in thinking more highly of others that your true value as a person is considered great in God’s sight. 

So choose your altar today. Will you bow to self or surrender to the Savior? Will you chase likes and applause, or will you echo the cry of John the Baptist: “He must increase, but I must decrease”?

 

One of the things that must have caught God’s attention and led Him to save Noah from the impending destruction of the earth must have been the recognisable difference between his lifestyle and that of the rest of the world. 

 

Noah as described in the Bible was a man who found grace in God’s sight. He was just, perfect, and walked with God. 

 

It is sad that in these end times, the mark of separation from the world has become so blurred in the Church. 

 

The Church and the world has so much blended that the Love of God that constrains to pleasing God above all else is no more evident. 

 

Those who are self-driven seem to have found ways to influence those who have been separated to conform to Jesus’s image. 

 

The power of the Church lies in her decision to follow Jesus and the Church can only follow when self and all its lust is first crucified and a cross, the cross of separation for His glory is carried faithfully. 

 

This is the only way the Holy Spirit can make of the Church as unto a Spiritual house where He freely dwells and glorifies Himself in. 

 

The power of the Church begins by the Holy Spirit with the mark of separation which is only achieved by crucifying the demands of self.

 

You may read this short post by Zac Poonen on Salvation from Self-centeredness.

https://www.cfcindia.com/wftw/salvation-from-selfcentredness

 

Let us pray:

Lord, in a world drunk with self-love, help me to be sober in Spirit. Teach me to deny myself, to love You above all, and to love others sacrificially. May I not be numbered among the lovers of self, but among the lovers of God.

 

Father, we ask for grace to completely let go of whatever keeps us bound to ourselves and to be yoked with Jesus to experience true ease in life, in Jesus name.

 

Holy Spirit we need your help to understand the ways we individually are blurring the lines of separation between wholehearted love for You and love for the world. Help us choose to love You alone and crucify self daily. In Jesus’ name, Amen.