Hardly anyone thinks they’re opposed to God; much less do they think they actually hate Him. You yourself may be convinced that you indeed love God. Moreover, you may be convinced that you love others as yourself. However, do you know whether you love God, others, or yourself? How can you know unless you know what it actually means to love God, others, or yourself?

For loving God isn’t loving Him for who you think He is. Loving your neighbor isn’t merely treating someone how you think they should be treated. Even if you love your neighbor the same way you want to be loved, that doesn’t mean you’re justified in loving what you love. For loving yourself isn’t accepting yourself as you are, doing whatever you want, surrounding yourself with people who tell you what you want to hear, nor threatening or attacking those who do not wish to oblige you.

Whether it’s bad theology, philosophy, politics, or personal preferences, there are things we hold dear that hold us back from completely loving God, others, or ourselves. If we are to shed the dead weight of sin and misunderstanding that we may run the race of faith to our greatest capacity, then we must be able to identify sin and misunderstanding. If we are going to recognize sin and misunderstanding, it won’t be owing to the conviction and expression of our own opinions or biases, but by surrendering to the authority of Scripture.

If you want to learn how to love God, others, or yourself, this book may very well be a good place to start. We won’t dive into every pool of heresy or hermeneutics in this book, but we’ll at least get our feet wet.