Love Self for God’s Sake

Meditations on

Staying In the Grace for Today 

July 30, 2025

Love Self for God’s Sake

Then Jesus said,

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens,

and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:28 

The Apostle Paul, writing about marriage relationships said, “. . . husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself.” (Ephesians 5:28) What Paul said about marriage relationships applies to all our relationships.

If I am at peace with myself, that peace is revealed in my relationship with others. If I am angry, if I am ashamed of myself, or disturbed by unresolved issues, my condition is revealed in my relationship with others.

Bernard of Clairvaux in his book, “On Loving God” put forth four stages of personal growth.

Stage 1: Love Self for Self’s Sake

We begin this way, taking responsibility to meet all our needs.

Stage 2: Love God for Self’s Sake

We hear John 3:16 and love God so we can be saved.

Stage 3: Love God for God’s Sake

We grow in faith and learn to love God with our heart, soul and mind.

Stage 4: Love Self for God’s Sake

We take God at His word and believe we are the beloved child of God

with whom He is well pleased and upon whom His favor rests.

How do we progress to stage 4 of Bernard’s teaching?

My Takeaway: Come to Jesus, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and he will give you rest. Let Jesus teach you, and you will find rest for your souls. And you will love yourself because that is God’s will for you.

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

 

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2025 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.