8/7/2019 GOD ESTEEM VS SELF ESTEEM
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Self-Esteem or God-Esteem
From childhood to adulthood the image we have of ourselves will
have an impact on every area of our life.
is universally believed and taught that in order to live a happy
well-rounded life, positive self-esteem is a necessity
Our parents or guardians are usually the first to have an impact
on molding our self-esteem for better or worse. In
todays classrooms building self-esteem is more important than
reading, writing and arithmetic. After all, logic aperson with low
self-esteem wont have much confidence or motivation to excel in
academics and beyond. Even
within some Christian churches there is a big focus on positive
thinking and self esteem. However, in regards to ou
relationship with God, self-esteem is a deception that will lead
to a false sense of security in our own abilities and asense of
worthlessness when our abilities falter and fade. God designed
mankind with a need for purpose and wort
and its only through him that those needs will be fully met.
One of the approaches some school systems take in regards to
self-esteem is to do away with the letter gradisystem. The theory
is that if a student is not reminded they deserve an F, their
self-esteem will be preserved. Th
may seem clever in regards to the classroom but there is a
dangerous parallel in the spiritual realm.
We are often deceived by our own pride and lusts into exchanging
Gods laws and grading system for awatered down version in an
attempt to evade guilt and maintain our self-esteem. The tremendous
effort made to
outlaw the Ten Commandments on and in public property speaks
volumes. Its difficult to feel good about ourselve
as we continue to live in sin while being reminded of failure
and inadequacies. The Truth is, we are sinners deservi
Gods judgment (Romans 3:23, 1John 1:8&10). The good news is
despite our sinfulness we are priceless to God.God esteems us
beyond measure and the revelation of our worth to God is the
sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ the
savior of the world.
Self-esteem is in direct opposition to God-esteem and the Gospel
of Grace, the reason being is self esteembased on self. We must
always remember that our worth or value does not come from self,
the praise of men, the w
we look, anything we can accomplish or have accomplished. Our
worth and value comes directly from God who
expressed his value for us through the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ. Our esteem is found in Jesus Christ and our purposis
allowing Jesus Christ to live through us. Its not self-esteem the
Christian should seek but rather God esteem.
Embracing God-esteem is true freedom. Gods-esteem will be there
long after our ability to perform fades away. Go
esteem for us never fades because its dependent on God not us.
However embracing God-esteem is not for the fain
of heart, it comes with a cost, to believe it will cost us our
pride, it will cost our self-esteem.Although we cant work to earn
Gods esteem, anymore than we can work to earn salvation, it doesnt
mean
works are not important to God. Because God esteems us doesnt
mean he wont judge us. Having God-esteem and
having Gods approval are two different things. God will always
esteem, value, and love us no matter what. HowevGod will not always
approve of our behavior. The more Jesus Christ is formed in us the
more we will have Gods
approval. It is not us God approves of, because apart from God
there is no good in us (Romans 3:10), it is his son
Jesus Christ in us whom God approves. Our inability to impress
God is a hard pill for us to swallow, because we haa tendency to
compare our goodness against each other instead of seeing ourselves
in the light of Gods goodness.
From Gods point of view the only good in us, is Christ in us.
The only thing we can do is to get out of the way by
dying to self (Gal 2:20). Any crowns that we receive we will
have the joy of casting at his feet. The reason ourcrowns are cast
at the feet of Jesus is because it is his work through us.
While self-esteem is not an accurate term for the Christian it
doesnt mean we should stop praising each oth
for a job well done, how nice someone is, how great the kids did
in school, how good your wife cooks, what a grea
athlete someone is, what an inspiring teacher, etc.... The
problem is not so much in the giving of praise to others as
long as our motives are right and we dont idolize them. The
problem comes with what we do with the praise that igiven to us. Of
course there is nothing wrong with a gracious thank you for a
compliment. However, we must no
use our abilities and the praise of men as basis for our worth
or we fall into the trap of pride and self-esteem. On tother hand
if you think you have no value to God, look to the cross and know
that God values and esteems you abo
anything else in all of creation.
paul dugo
