To all believers who think that all this “self-esteem” teaching in the church is wrong let me say that I disagree. There is a right reason and a wrong reason to feel good about who you are. When it seeks to glorify God in how you think and feel about yourself so that you will reflect God better on others…then it is not wrong to think good thoughts toward yourself. I will say this, however, it is NEVER good to not like yourself. It does not glorify God when you hate who you are. I’m listening to a message on depression by my beloved former pastor, Kevin Blackwell. He says that the enemy wants to slowly kill you one day at a time and he does this by bringing thoughts of worthlessness to your mind. Since my pastor was so transparent, I am going to follow his example and confess to you that I battle these thoughts daily. It is the encouraging words of believers and the very Word of God that gives me weapons to fight with. I NEED to feel worthy. God created me that way. The difference between the good kind of self esteem and the bad kind is that the good kind comes from realizing how unworthy I am apart from God…which leads me to see how much I need Him in order to combat the words of worthlessness that I have in my head daily. To say that as a believer I am worthess is a lie. The very fact that Christ lives in me is all I need to know that I am to die for…and this is God’s message to me through Jesus Christ. Christians cannot walk in victory with a low self-esteem. When believers see themselves as unworthy…that is living in defeat. That does not glorify God. People may deem me unworthy. People may tell me that I am not wanted or needed. But, not all of them do. God uses me. He uses my hardships and He uses my battle with depression and anxiety for good. Every time I am buried in the lies I hear in my head…I can turn to God’s truth and put those lies to rest. I can remember the encouraging words of a person I shared my testimony with and know that I am being used. I want to be needed. I want to be accepted. I want to be loved. I want to be noticed…but not for me…I want to be noticed because of Christ in me. It serves no good for me to be noticed otherwise. I am an instrument deemed worthy for use by the Redeemer who died for me. Nothing trumps this truth and it is not wrong to feel a sense of self worth because God says I am worthy…not because of anything I am or have done…but simply because I am created in His image and loved by Him.
I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 138:14
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