Christian Living

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Self-Esteem and the Christian
Yesterday, my youngest daughter came home from eighth grade asking me about self-esteem. It is not something that we have talked a lot about, because we have tried to teach our daughters a spirit of humility which is the direct opposite of self-esteem as taught in our schools and even in our churches today. This got me thinking about how the Christian should view self-esteem. How important is it to our overall well-being?
Self-esteem is viewed by many as feelings of self-worth based on skills, accomplishments and status. However, this kind of self esteem leads to pride, independence and often self-worship. This is in direct contrast to what we are told in James 4:6.
But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."
Our sense of worth should not depend on what we do; rather that God loves us so much that He gave His son to die for us. He would have done this if we were the only one on earth.
The starting point for this discussion has to be with the doctrine of creation. We were thought up by God and created in His image. (Genesis 1:27). We have much greater worth than the secular view of humans says that we have. Psalm 8:3-6, 9 states it this way:
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet:
all flocks and herds,
and the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air,
and the fish of the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
The humanist puts self in charge and not God. Man makes himself God. The Bible teaches however, that we are totally depraved. We are a fallen race. We are sinners in need of a savior. The secular world view tells us we can do it on our own. The Bible tells us that we can do nothing without Christ as our guide.
The cult of self-worship or self esteem is primarily an emotional response to what we have done or what has been done to us. If this is so, how does this work in helping us find out who we are? Our emotions are ever changing. God never changes and this is a much better place to begin to find out who we are. Our worth to him never changes. It is the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow. For this reason, we have value beyond the rest of creation because we were created in His image. (Genesis 1:27).
Self-esteem is a dangerous concept. It is part of a new gospel which is being taught not only in our schools and workplaces, but also in our churches. Self-esteem counseling has become “big business” in the larger churches in this country. The basis for much of this teaching is comes from the teaching of Carl Jung. Mr. Jung’s teachings have a dangerous foundation because he hated all things to do with God. Because of this he sought to find truth within himself. This has led to teachings of self-esteem and self love. However, one of the things the self-esteem movement does is that it denies the fact that we are all sinners. Instead it teaches us that we are all victims of our circumstances and of others.
Self-esteem is deeply secular and not something Christians should be involved with. They not need to be. As a Christian, our esteem comes from God. We are each of such value that angels rejoice over every repentant sinner. However, we have nothing to be proud of. The Bible tells us that “no one is righteous, no not one” (Romans 3:10) There is no reason to believe that those with high self-esteem are more favored by God. It is quite the contrary.
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:3, 5)
Self-esteem is very American and is linked to finding happiness. It says that we are responsible for our own happiness. Unless you love yourself, you are not happy. It leads us to excuse unbiblical, destructive and evil behavior. We have learned that we don’t have to be accountable if we suffer from low self-esteem. Self-esteem is simple idolatry to self. Someday, I hope to see it disappear and simple common sense to take its place.

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