So I begin here, thinking:

Self-sacrifice is a quietly implicit & understated acknowledgement that the self is loved & worthy, anything else creates indebtedness.

In order for me to sacrifice for someone or something, I have to consent to the worth and value of that person or thing. Yet, more than that I have to consider that I am the full price (at the minimum) to cover the expense for that person or thing. I think I will call that strategy price-checking. It’s not scanning the value of what is external, but it’s the internal survey and inventory of the goods within.

Cues from Christ support this idea.

As we understand the dramatic unfolding of the cross, it is inconceivable that Jesus the Christ, the unworthy should die for the unworthy. Moreover, it is inconceivable that the worthy should die for the unworthy. Surely, God the consummate steward, should not give up Divine Life for something counted worthless.

More cues that let us know that hating others is actually the expression of self-hate and rejection:

• Love your neighbor AS you love yourself. Matthew 22:39
• In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, Ephesians 5:28-29

There it was in plain view. The detractors call this the gospel of self. I suppose it could be if self-awareness gets the gospel out of you.

If a person has not discovered their own self-worth, how can you expect them to sacrifice? They have believed they are not enough and therefore, perform accordingly.

When we have underestimated our own value and worth, then we are indebted (deficit, negative balance) when we give ourselves away in love and service to others. When we owe someone, this is what we refer to as SLAVERY, BONDAGE, DEBT. We live a life beyond price and of exorbitant cost because we fail to realize that we are enough…and if I am not, then perhaps there is NO basis for an exchange.