Self Esteem

This is a continuation of a thought I blogged last night.

Apart from Christ, we are NOTHING. Period. Your looks, your clothes, your intelligence doesn't matter a hill of beans in eternity.

Now, don't take that to mean that I find people to be of no value. Lost or found, we have value simply because GOD, creator of everything, formed us with his bare hands. He spoke everything else into existence, but he literally put his hands in the dirt to form us.

And let's not forget that Psalm 139 says he forms us in the womb. He knows us before we are thought of by our parents. If you take the number of grains of sand on the beaches, that's how often he thinks of us and we are but worms in the light of His Holiness.

THAT gives us value. Not the clothes we wear, our intelligence, our possessions, our beauty or anything else. We do not need SELF esteem that puts the focus on us and on how valuable we are.

Mankind is self-centered and prideful enough. Encouraging young people to take more pride in themselves based on their attributes will only lead to them viewing themselves as a god OR it will lead to them focusing on their failures and coming to the conclusion that they have no value. Both are false because they are based on an incorrect understanding of where the value of humanity stems from.

We need Christ esteem where the focus is placed on God's majesty and grace and love.

When we hold a proper view of God and of man, then we don't depreciate, we appreciate. We know that the value of a person is intrinsic, not because of the person, but because of the Creator.

A painting is just a painting unless it was painted by Picasso.