Romans 5:8, …but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Many authors write on “self-love.” Surely, self-loathing and self-deprecation should not be the state of any human soul, for that is what the Devil wants. Yet the Devil also wants torturous, ceaseless struggle with self-love and even self-love made into an idol. It is the idol of self-love that justifies the slaughtering of unborn babies at the altar of the False Trinity: Me, Myself, and I.
Whether made into an idol or you suffer the ebbs and flows of self-love and self-hate, you are never enough—you are never enough for yourself. The perpetual struggle for self-love proves this. Self-love as an idol ends on an isolated, deserted island with no one but your tiny, self-inflated ego as the stretch marks finally take their toll.
God’s love for you is so great that self-love shouldn’t even be an issue. For whatever love you have for yourself, God’s love vigorously overshadows it. Whatever hate you have for yourself, God’s love utterly annihilates it. Among many other things, your self-hate—even your self-love (pride)—was crucified with Christ on the cross.
Even then, God’s love is not about you, for there is nothing special about you. You and I were dead sinners along with everyone else (Ephesians 2:1-2). What’s so special about that? Rather, God’s love is about Him and His holiness; it is about His Son Jesus, who chose to die for His enemies, you and me. You are not special, but God makes you specially His because of His special Son, Jesus.
The Lutheran Column 