[Drake]

Originally Posted by Igzy

Another way to consider it is this.

It's one thing to love yourself. That's what God does, in the most healthy way, and we should, too.

But things reach a whole 'nother level when your self starts loving you back. That's what happened when the Son was begotten.

This may sound a little narcissistic to our natural ears, but we cannot deny that God loves himself completely, unreservedly, yet in the most holy way. But he is so pure that his love for himself is expressed as love for Another. And from that, his love for all of us was born. That's how great our God is! We would not even be here if he was not like that!

"Love your neighbor as yourself." Or, said another way, "Love yourself as your neighbor." So when we love our neighbors purely, in the manner God does, we are in a very real sense loving ourselves, too. Self-love which conflicts with loving others is not real love. It is fallen self-obsession.

Eventually we are to have relationships with ourselves like the Father has with the Son. I think this may be, ultimately, what "finding your soul" means. Throw in billions of others experiencing the same thing and loving each other as well, and you have God's purpose, and his glory.

In another thread I alluded to my concerns about lack of an accurate presentation of the truth and so in fairness I felt I should provide an example rather than just make a generalization about something the poster said. The above is an example.

Matthew 16:21-26: ^"21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. ²² And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord!^e]">[e] This shall never happen to you.” ²³ But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance^f]">[f] to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus

²⁴ Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ²⁵ For whoever would save his life^g]">[g] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. ²⁶ For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?"

Though loving your neighbor as yourself implies that there is already love for oneself, the way to find your soul is not to love yourself but rather as the Lord states above it is to deny the love that issues from the self. This is not only the Lord's straightforward statement but the context also demonstrates the same teaching. The Lord was reacting to Peter's objection to His going to the cross, no doubt out of his love for the Lord, and yet this love had to be denied and put under the cross because it was a thing of man. Loving oneself is also a thing of man. Though it sounds reasonable, it is something to be denied, not embraced. It is something that must be put under the cross, not nurtured in anyway. Only then will the believer find his soul.

Drake