“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”

…as thyself.

But what if I don’t love myself?

What if I have been belittled, marginalized, and burdened with negative thoughts about who I am? How can I possibly love my neighbor in a positive and constructive way? If my own sense of worth is broken, and I express that same level of love to my neighbor, am I truly living into this commandment?

Maybe the wickedness we see in our society is the result of this snowball effect—where generations of pain, self-doubt, and rejection ripple outward, shaping the way we treat one another.

How can we, as children of God, reverse this cycle?

Maybe it has something to do with the first and greatest commandment:

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”

Maybe what these two commandments are telling us is that our responsibility is to care for and love each other—but we can’t do that unless we love ourselves. So, the first commandment, to love God, is actually the key to securing that sense of love for ourselves.

It’s as if God is saying: Ignore the wicked. Ignore those who belittle you, degrade you. Focus on Me. Focus on My unwavering love for you, and let that love be your confidence, your strength—so that you can pursue your true calling.

Or, as Star Trek fans might relate, our “prime directive” is to love our neighbor. Yes, even the one who has trespassed against us.