In recent years, self-love has drawn much attention because so many people have come to understand how important it is to value and take care of oneself.
The Bible has long emphasized the importance of self-love, even though it may seem like a contemporary concept.
The Bible contains several verses emphasizing the value of loving oneself as a means of loving others and expressing our love for God.
Bible Verses On Loving Yourself
Numerous passages in the Bible encourage us to accept and love ourselves for who we are, knowing that we are all valuable and loved by God.
These verses serve as potent reminders of the value of self-love and can guide us in developing a better, more understanding relationship with ourselves.
These verses can provide support and direction as you work to love and accept yourself more fully, whether dealing with self-doubt insecurity or simply looking to deepen your spiritual practice.
Song of Solomon 4:7 (ESV) – There are No flaws In God’s Creation
You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.
Proverbs 19:8 (ESV) – Learn To Love Yourself
Whoever gets sense loves his own soul; he who keeps understanding will discover good.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (ESV) – Love Is Necessary As a Christian
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
Psalm 139:13-15 (ESV) – God Created Us In His Image
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Ephesians 5:29 (ESV) – Never Hate Yourself, No Matter Where You Find Yourself
For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,
1 Timothy 4:12 (ESV) – You Beginning Is Part Of You
Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.
1 John 3:1 (ESV) – God Loves Us So Much
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
Deuteronomy 31:6 (ESV) – Be Strong
Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”
1 Peter 4:8 (ESV) – Love Covers Multitude Of Flaws
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
Leviticus 19:18 (ESV) – Live a Sincere Life
You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
Romans 13:8-10 (ESV)
Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Luke 6:27 (ESV)
“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
Ephesians 2:10 (ESV)
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Psalm 37:1-40 (ESV)
Of David. Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. …
Mark 12:31 (ESV)
The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Romans 8:26 (ESV)
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
John 13:34-35 (ESV)
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
1 Samuel 16:7 (ESV)
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
Romans 13:9 (ESV)
For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Romans 5:8 (ESV)
But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
John 15:9 (ESV)
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.
1 Corinthians 13:13 (ESV)
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Philippians 4:8-9 (ESV)
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
Love Yourself As God Loves You, Verses
There are many lessons about God’s love and how we are supposed to love others in the Bible.
The fact that we are also obligated to love ourselves the same way God does is crucial to remember. Some verses in the Bible encourage us to do so.
These verses remind us that God sees us as valuable and beloved and that we ought to treat ourselves with the same tolerance, kindness, and grace that God does.
1 John 4:9-10 (ESV)
In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1 John 3:14 (ESV)
We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.
1 Corinthians 13:3 (ESV)
If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Isaiah 43:1-28 (ESV)
But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you.
Psalm 23:1-6 (ESV)
A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. …
Hebrews 12:1 (ESV)
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
Matthew 22:37 (ESV)
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
Galatians 6:3 (ESV)
For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
Galatians 5:26 (ESV)
Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
John 3:16-17 (ESV)
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Luke 6:35 (ESV)
But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.
1 Peter 2:17 (ESV)
Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
Galatians 2:20 (ESV)
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Matthew 16:24 (ESV)
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
1 John 4:16 (ESV)
So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
Conclusion
The Bible offers us compelling lessons on accepting and loving oneself.
These verses remind us that all people are valuable and beloved in God’s eyes and that we should treat ourselves with the same compassion, kindness, and grace God does.
We can better love, serve others, and achieve our purpose as God’s children if we learn to accept and love ourselves.
May we all seek to develop a loving and healthy relationship with ourselves, finding strength and inspiration in the knowledge and instruction of the Bible.
