Our True Value

I've been thinking a lot about self-esteem lately.
It all started when I heard something on the Today Show a few weeks ago about narcissism drastically increasing over the past few generations. I tried to think back and remember when we started to teach self-esteem as a subject in school, and giving kids gold stars for breathing. I started to wonder if there was any correlation~ if maybe fear of low self-image is so great, that we are overcompensating by "teaching self-esteem" while really just bringing up an increasingly self-centered nation.  Not that I'm trying to attack the school system- I think the schools are just a representation of our society as a whole (or wait... is society a representation of the schools?)... It seems like the way self-esteem is often taught and obsessed about in our culture just exchanges lie for lie.  It trades the "You're not good enough" lie for the "You're more important than everyone else" lie.  It trades the "Nobody loves you" lie for the "You must love yourself more" lie.

Not to discredit those who really suffer from a poor self-image.  I know that it's a real issue.  There is enough noise around us telling us what we should be and what we shouldn't be, and we are constantly being told from a very early age from every imaginable angle that our worth depends on our beauty, and/or our accomplishments.

I started to wonder what God says about self esteem.  I couldn't find any Bible verse commanding us to love ourselves, but here's what the Bible does say about our worth:

• We are created in the image of God. 
• We are wonderfully and fearfully made.
• We are to find our confidence in Christ.
• Christ thought we were valuable enough to die for.
• God loved us so much that he sent his son to pay the penalty for our disobedience.
• We are to care what God thinks, and not what man thinks.
• We are to love others as we love ourselves.

I don't know about you, but these things make me feel pretty awesome about me, and pretty awesome about you, too. God finds us valuable.  That's enough.

As far as learning to love ourselves, the Bible seems to assume we already love ourselves.  Immensely.  It has quite a bit more to say about setting aside our self-love instead of nurturing it.  Being humble.  Setting aside our selfishness, pride, and vanity, going against our nature, and putting others first.

Maybe the best way to have a healthy self-image is to embrace the way GOD sees us, and then stop thinking about ourselves so much and focus on loving the people around us. :-)

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PS~ A great book on the topic is "Lies Woman Believe and the Truth that Sets them Free" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss.  She speaks of lies we believe about God, ourselves, our marriages, our children, our emotions, and our circumstances.  At the end of each chapter she counters the lies (in a chart! Yay!) with biblical TRUTH. The book is a personal favorite of mine and I refer to it from time-to-time to help me keep perspective.  It's freeing!

PPS~ A great book for kids on the topic is "You Are Special" by Max Lucado.