Friday, November 1, 2013

Self-Esteem is from God

One thing that is really sad is how many people mistake self-esteem as being the same as pride. Pride says, "I can do anything with no help from anyone." However self-esteem says, "I can do a lot of things, but I can't do everything."

     When I was going through my deepest of depressions I kept wishing that I had never existed. I thought about walking away from Christianity because it seemed to me like misbehaving paid off. Then one day I got a pamphlet from Dr. Charles Stanley entitled "Win the Waiting Game."

According to the pamphlet and its writers it said, "Before Joseph could become second in command of all of Egypt, first he would have to be unfairly sold by his  own brothers into slavery and then later imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit. Before King David could become king of all Israel, first he would have to spend many years of his life running away from King Saul who was trying to kill him out of his jealousy." Dr. Charles Stanley and his group of writers taught me something, "The greater God allows you to suffer, (not causes), the greater a leader He has caused you to be once your suffering is finally over.

     Thanks to Pastor Jill Briscoe I was able to hear about God's amazing love for us through John 17:23. A friend of mine later gave me a book by Joel Osteen. At first I was afraid to read it because there are a lot of bad stereotypes about televised pastors. However, when I summoned up the courage to read it I was able to read about the amazing story of Joel Osteen's mother getting life threatening cancer, her having the courage to believe God would heal her, and God healed her and proved the doctors wrong. I can honestly say I regret not giving Joel more of a chance when I was younger.

There are so many reasons to have high self-esteem and thank God for it, but so many of us (myself included) care too much what our friends say and not what God says. Children of God know how to handle bad situations when their hearts are right with God. When Job lost all he had and his friends hurt his feelings more than they helped him he didn't just give up and say, "You're right." No, instead he said, "You know if any of you were in my shoes I would be speaking positively towards you and try to help you come out of your darkness. You however, smear me with lies. You are worthless physicians all of you." What voice are you listening to when your friends insult you for no reason their voice or the wisdom of God that says insults like that are words of worthless physicians? In the same way it is our job to encourage our friends when they face hardships not talk down to them.

          There are so many people who you think would have high self-esteem, but don't. There are billionaires that buy many things they don't need to try and fill a void that they experienced sometime in their childhood. They need to go to God and find peace in Him. That's what Job did and in today's standards it is very likely he would have been a billionaire if he were alive today. His richest were taken from him, but he found rest in God. Later for his faithfulness God gave him twice as much as he had before.

There is an old Sketcher's commercial where a young girl is dressed up in cool clothes and in the background the music is playing, "I've got swag baby, swag baby. I'm a daddy's girl." Indeed if only all people would go to God and then start singing this song when ever we got insulted, "Your insults can't bring me down. I've got swag baby, swag baby. I'm a child of the most High God." To think so many models secretly don't think their pretty enough. If only their attitudes were more centered on how God sees them than on how people see them then I believe when someone insults them and says, "You're not as pretty as you think you are," then they could remind them of the verse Psalm 139:14 and say you're right. I'm as beautiful as the Lord God says I am. Which means I'm a lot prettier than I give myself credit for.

     People who make it to the top don't always have the highest sense of self-esteem either. Many of them secretly fear that someone is going to take their place as the leader someday. If only we were more humble and think to ourselves when God wants me to rise to the top I will rise to the top and when God sends me my successors I will not let my fear of them taking my spot control me for I know when God calls someone to be a leader it is their time to shine not mine. However, while it is my time to shine I will honor God and make all my followers know that all good things come from God, to be thankful to Him in both good and bad times, and to teach them humility to honor God with the unique abilities He has given to them and above all praise God for His goodness.