Self Esteem

Insight on What God Deserves

04/14/2015

I think this whole thing about self esteem is just another way for Satan to turn us away from God and rob us of our joy. The very name suggests that: SELF esteem. It is all about self. It is all about how we view and feel about self. Whether we feel valuable or worthless it doesn’t matter. Both views are a lie if based on an evaluation of self.

If we feel worthless, we deny what God has said about us. We are His creation and He values us enough to give up all power, knowledge, and immortality to live like us and die for us so we can be with Him. That’s a pretty high value. It’s not based on who we are or what we do, but on God’s evaluation of human life.

On the other hand, if we have a high regard for ourselves and take pride in what we have done, we deny God His rightful place. Only God is worthy of esteem. Only God is good. Humans are sinful, weak, and full of failures. To not admit that is to miss God’s grace. It is because of His grace and love that He declares us valuable. It has nothing to do with us and everything to do with who God is.

So, how is a person to view him or herself? With truth. The truth is that humans are a crazy mix of good and bad, success and failure, wisdom and ignorance. To ignore either part is to ignore the truth about who we are. And that paralyzes us and keeps us from becoming all we are supposed to be. We are either chasing our dreams or wallowing in our failures. But when we accept ourselves as we are, then we can move forward by the grace of God. Self evaluation is very important, but the point is not to esteem or degrade self. The point is to discover who we are, how we are created (what gifts and talents we have) and where we fall short of being that person so God can redeem that part of us. Our lives are to be all about God-not about self. We are to esteem God so He can make us like HIm.

Forget about self esteem and concentrate on esteeming God.