* Paul had just spoken about our debt of love to all people.

* We “owe” people love, just like we’d “owe” them money if we borrowed it.

* Law determines the lowest you can go.

* Love determines the highest you can go.

* Vs 9 - notice the qualifier - “Love your neighbor AS YOU LOVE YOURSELF.”

* If you don’t love yourself you can’t properly love others.

* The foundation for love - intimacy.

* Intimacy - to be fully known and fully accepted.

* Loving ourself is about knowing and accepting ourself as God made us.

* We accept our identity, not our behavior.

* How can we love ourself without falling in love with ourself?

* How can we accept ourself without thinking of how exceptional we are?

* Vanity Smurf - he couldn’t love others cuz he was in love w/himself.

* Loving others isn’t about thinking of yourself. It’s about:

* Accepting yourself.

* Thinking of others - you think of how you can use your uniqueness to bless them.

* John 12:25 - “Whoever loves his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

* When you accept yourself and think of others you feel better about yourself. Why?

* Because you like the stuff that comes out of you - you actually enjoy the fruit that others eat.

* Like Tori making an ossum dinner - she lights up when others eat it.

* It works like this:

* I accept myself…

* I think about you…

* I like myself.