Self esteem. What is there to be esteemed?

It's been a while since I posted last and this subject has been brewing in my mind for even longer. It is good to be back.



It is always interesting to me when I hear professing believers talking about self esteem. Often I hear things like "so and so needs more self esteem" or " I need to do something about my self esteem. It is so very low right now" or even in christian counseling, people saying "you need to realize that you are a beautiful person and see yourself that way and then go and do what you need to do". I actually heard a man once saying to an unbeliever that he (the unbeliever) was irresistible to God and that is why Jesus died for him.



What to do with such statements? Believe them? Dismiss them as sentimentalism? Heresy? How we answer these questions will determine how we deal with those who hold such beliefs. It is important to remind ourselves that behind all beliefs there are broken sinners with real emotions and circumstances in life that are deeply affected by what they believe. If we love our neighbor and as Christians, love one another it is important that we examine what we believe in light of the Scriptures so we can accurately overflow the love of God (from and for) into each other's lives. If that isn't the motivation, we would have little chance if any to glorify God, therefore rendering our effort useless.



I'm not really a doom and gloom type of guy but in regards to the self esteem issue, I'm afraid there isn't much to be esteemed in ourselves. The Holy Spirit has quite a few things to say about man on the pages of the Bible but one verse that immediately comes to my mind is (Isaiah 2:22 ) which sort of summarizes my meditation on this subject with one rhetorical question. The sad truth is that human beings are fallen and as such, we are enemies of God (Rm 5:10), followers of the Devil (Eph 2:2), altogether useless (Rom. 3:12) have a deceitful and wicked heart (Jer.17:9) that is inclined ONLY to evil (Gen. 6:5 ), love darkness rather than light because our deeds are evil (Jhn 3:19). The psalmist sees all this and boldly declares: " I have no good apart from You. (Psa. 16:2). There are many more texts talking about our sinful state. This is not an exhaustive list about humanity's condition but it does give us a general ideal about it.



After encountering these very straight forward verses, one must ask himself:

What is there to be esteemed?

The answer is: NOTHING!

Just read those Scriptures and praise God that He has redeemed you. If you feel like a wretch, it is because you are and only a God rich in mercy would freely choose to rescue someone in our condition. The Bible gloriously states that " ...while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Isn't our God magnified when you see and internalize the truth of our ugly condition? Also, when you don't have an accurate understanding of your sinfulness, you will be tempted to be a lover of yourself, delighting in you a lot more than in God. The Lord commands you to love Him with all your mind, body, soul and strength and I want to submit to you today that seeking after self esteem will undoubtedly make your endeavor to obey this commandment a heck of a lot harder and snatch the joy you are to have in Him out of your life eventually. Friend, it is important that He increases and you decrease.

There is great hope for those who acknowledge their sickness and run to the One who never rejects a broken and contrite heart.

They surely shall find rest in the arms of the one who says:

Come to me all of you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.



God bless.