You can love others and not disrespect yourself. Self respect should never be at the cost of self love.

Respect matters. Bible scriptures tell us what respect.

In Luke 6:27-28, Jesus says

“But I say to you who hear, love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who abuse you.”

In verses 32-33, He says,

“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.”

This may  strike you as difficult.  It should. We can’t do it on our own. Loving people who we disagree with takes the Spirit of God working through us. People are complex, a mosaic of their experiences, their upbringing, and their hurts and joys.

People are not an issue to be solved; they’re to be loved and cared with grace and truth.

That means we must maintain a healthy sense of respect. Self respect will not allow us to accept certain things as normal. We make sure that everyone we meet, we treat with respect and regard. We surround ourselves with people who do the same.  Neither is it a result of comparing ourselves with others because there is always someone better.  We either like ourselves or we don’t. With self-respect, we like ourselves because of who we are and not because of what we can or cannot do.

Spending time thinking about what your limits are  is healthy. Respecting yourself means taking care of yourself mentally, emotionally, socially, and physically.

Self-respect is having the proud feeling that you matter. It’s the natural outcome of holding what you see with acceptance and compassion. People who’ve suffered abuse as children or young adults internalize the negative messages they’ve heard from others; they lose self-respect and don’t acknowledge their own worth. Compromised self-respect must be reclaimed-and it can be

When we have self respect we are capable of loving people in an appropriate way.