Christian Women Love Yourselves

There is a false notion among many Christian women that if you have a high self esteem and love yourself then you are vain and prideful. We are taught to be modest, humble, and meek, but that does not mean not to love who we are and what we are. There is often times confusion between self esteem and vanity. Vanity is defined as having excessive pride in your appearance, abilities and achievements. Pride in and of itself isn't wrong, but excessive pride is.

Christ taught us to love one another as He loves us. Loving one another also means to love who you are. We as women should love ourselves so that others may love us too. If we dislike ourselves or feel depressed or frustrated with an aspect of whom or what we are, or our bodies, we are actually not keeping the second greatest commandment Christ gave us. Matthew 22: 36- 39 it says, "Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. " The Savior is telling us that loving others is just as important as loving ourselves.

Sadly, the opposite lesson is something that is many times taught generationally in an unspoken way from mothers to their daughters whether it is through little comments on how often they look in the mirror or any time the daughter may spend making herself look nice. How the mother takes care of her physical body and appearance teaches her daughters the importance or unimportance of loving and caring for their own bodies. Spending reasonable time or money to accentuate your personal appearance is acceptable and should be done without feeling guilty that you are taking from someone else in the family or money that should go towards something else. It is true that idol fashion has its worshippers and too much money, thought, and time is spent on such a useless and unfulfilling lifestyle. Prudent and modest women can still tastefully enjoy fashion within reason and carefully paying attention to their budgets purchase jewelry, shoes, and clothing for themselves and their family.

Spending the time to exercise regularly is not vanity but is treating our physical bodies with love and respect. We all know that exercise is the way to improve health, lengthen your life, and reduce weight and stress. The immediate rewards of exercise are the boost of feel good endorphins and energy that lasts throughout the day.

To love yourself means to forgive yourself for your mistakes and with a firm purpose to try again having faith in yourself that you can do it better the next time around. To have self esteem is also to know who you are and be glad of it. Our Heavenly Father wants us to feel good about ourselves. We are His daughters and can and should love who we are.