Most men love themselves. I did not say worship. Nor did I say idolize. But I did say love. There is a difference.

The Pharisees (the religious leaders) were continually trying to entrap Jesus, and they came to Him one day and said, "What is the greatest commandment of all?" And He answered them this way:

...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. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
(Matt. 22:37-40 KJV)

If you do not love yourself, you certainly cannot love your neighbor. Your neighbor is not just the person who lives next door to you. Your neighbor is everyone else in the world but you.

Paul said it very clearly, He who does not love his wife does not love himself. He who does not love himself does not love his wife.

Most men take care of themselves. Most men spend time on themselves.

Let me say it this way: I surely take care of me. I found out that "me" is somebody. Jesus made me somebody. He told me that I was a priest and a king, a member of a royal priesthood. He told me I was the head and not the tail, above and not beneath.

He told me that Father God loved me so much He sent His only begotten Son to redeem me. I must be worth something. In the sight of God, I am. I bathe myself, shave, and put on cologne. I comb my hair. I buy good stuff to put on me, because I love myself and God loves me.

If that is true, then I cannot love my wife less than I love me. Yet some men never buy anything for their wives, never do anything for them.

Paul said in Ephesians 5:29 (KJV): "For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church."

Do you hate your own flesh? I have never seen a man ball up his fist, hit himself, and give himself a black eye. I have never seen that. But I have known of Christian men who gave their wives black eyes. Now, what kind of man is that?

What kind of love is that? That is not the way Jesus loves.

Source: The Spirit-Filled Father's Guide to Total Victory
by Harrison House Authors
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers