Self Worth - April 2005

This above cartoon is from A Perfect World

Personal fulfillment and self worth is a huge issue within society today. Everyone has to feel good about themselves, and they have to do it right now. There is little place for patience, values, or character building in the world, because we need everything right now and we need to be sure that we feel good about ourselves as we are doing it.

We have built our society on the basis of people defining themselves based on how they feel about themselves. We do not want anyone to feel like they lost, no one can feel like a failure, no one can have low self esteem. We want to make sure no one gets their feelings hurt. To accomplish this, we tell people to define themselves by any means that they want as long as they feel good about themselves. How they live, how they treat others, how they impact others, how they affect society, and what they do is all unimportant as long as they feel good about themselves.

Modern society is full of people that define themselves not by how they live or by how their life impacts others, but what they do or how they do it. Their view is - “You have to get yours, and don’t let anything or anyone stop you.” Who you know, and who knows you, defines you, and defines you more then how you live, what you set as your goals, and what your future is going to be.

We fast track everything and justify our personal actions in the process. Speed dating, speed sex, quickie divorce, quickie workouts, affairs, abuse in its various forms, and greed just to name a few. We do not value taking the proper time to establish, develop, and maintain quality relationships, quality endeavors, and quality values within our lives. We justify our selfish actions by saying that what we want is what we must have personally. We act as if others that oppose our will are terrible and judgmental. Anyone that questions our will is to be ignored, devalued, or destroyed.

We do this where we can fill better about ourselves. In the process, we also try to make our peers respect us by degrading others. We have generations full of people that have sought the praise and glory of society and their peers as a means of increasing their own self esteem, instead of pursuing self worth via internal improvements and selfless actions. We see this throughout society. Just a few examples are teenagers that drink or have sex to fit in, adults that inflate their actions, activities, and pursuits where they are revered within their peer community, and leaders that ask for the opinions of their followers before setting agenda’s - that requires only polling not leadership characteristics. Throughout this entire process, we see people that stand for values degraded because they refuse to bend to the winds of society.

On a personal level, I have seen this in a close friend. I know a man that routinely inflates his life to make others feel that he and his wife are more important then they are. This is sad considering that the man is well educated, very intelligent - as is his wife. He simply lacks personal self worth. To overcome this, he tries to develop his self worth by impressing others with stories about themselves or their life. He routinely scoffs at anything that is common - i.e. best sellers, popular movies, etc - because they are simple and beneath him, yet at his core he is truly common himself and just trying to run from his own personal self loathing by use of the stories.

Unfortunately, similar stories and situations are very common today. People that are unhappy and frustrated with themselves tend to create grander personal accomplishments for themselves, or they pull back into cocoons to protect themselves from the eyes of a prying, judgmental society. Either way in the end they are simply running from their own struggles with low self worth, low self esteem, and low personal fulfillment because they are unhappy with who they are.

The saved should not find themselves in such places. That is because the value of a Christian life is not in personal accomplishments, but in the power and actions of God. The God of Abraham, Isaac, David, John, Mary, Martha, and Paul meets you wherever you are and then guides you to a place of importance, and fulfillment. All of those listed above had times of personal lows, rebellion, and selfishness. The good news is that after their personal problems, they were built into spiritual greats via God by a maturing time in their lives. God is in the business of taking the low, and the self important as well, and bring them to a personal realization of their flaws, and then rebuilding us as new creation in His perfect image.

Though salvation is instantaneous and permanent, the work of maturing and rebuilding takes time. God does not make you a powerful force within His Army overnight. He builds you up slowly and consistently by filing away the old worthless self and rebuilding you with new desires, goals, and hopes. He does not do this based on your personal abilities, education, skills, or economic status, but based on His love, the redemptive blood of His son Jesus that was shed on the cross to pay the price for your sins, and your commitment to Him.

While Christ was here on earth He was very clear about His purpose and reason for coming, it was to save the lost from an eternity in Hell. Being fully God, Christ also was clear about what it took to be part of His body and to be saved and how the saved can live a powerful and abundant life through Him.

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:6

"Jesus said unto her, (Martha) I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:" John 11:25

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:17

"And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." I John 5:11-12

In the process of telling His followers about their eternal options, and the possibility of their salvation via His blood, Christ also made promises about how He would care for the saved. A FEW of God’s promise to the saved are that He would never leave them nor forsake them (Hebrews 13:5), that all GOOD things come from Him (James 1:17), that there is an eternal resting place for the saved (John 14:2), that Christ came to give His followers abundant life (John 10:10), that God’s desire is to make His followers fishers of men (Matthew 4:19), and that the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few (Luke 10:2).

The last three points speak directly to what we are talking about here - living a life that is fulfilled, fruitful and full of self worth. In John 10:10 Christ says “I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly" Notice Christ did not come to make the lives of his believers boring and drab, but to give them abundant lives. To us that means lives filled with purpose, fulfillment, and direction. It means having a reason to live, not just a reason to survive. It means having a future and a plan for your life.

This point leads us to the next two verses, Matthew 4:19 and Luke 10:2. Part of the purpose that God has for you is to change the lives of those that you meet for Him. We are the physical feet and hands of Christ on earth. There is a lost world that is our responsibility to work to change. He has us here to impact and change the world, not hide from it. The world needs to hear from us (i.e. - the harvest is great), and He plans to use us to change the world (i.e. - making us fishers of men, calling us to be workers).

Which leads to our last point, when God is using you He is the one doing the work. Look for Ephesians 2:8-10 to see our point.

Ephesians 2:8-10 - 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

The purpose, direction and fulfillment that comes to your life after accepting Christ is due to what God does through you, not what you do for God. You are no longer living for yourself and for the things that the world can give you. You are living to serve, not living for status, and that makes all the difference when you are developing your self esteem, self worth and finding your purpose.

Do not let the world effect how you view yourself any longer. The world’s ways are not God’s ways, but His ways are the ways of righteousness, quality, values and personal worth. Go out and allow God, and the work that He does through you, to define you as you impact the world for Him. Doing this will define your worth, your self esteem, your values, your goals, your purpose and most of all your future.

Return to Main April Page		Open Team Swap Main Page In New Window
	This above cartoon is from A Perfect World Personal fulfillment and self worth is a huge issue within society today. Everyone has to feel good about themselves, and they have to do it right now. There is little place for patience, values, or character building in the world, because we need everything right now and we need to be sure that we feel good about ourselves as we are doing it. We have built our society on the basis of people defining themselves based on how they feel about themselves. We do not want anyone to feel like they lost, no one can feel like a failure, no one can have low self esteem. We want to make sure no one gets their feelings hurt. To accomplish this, we tell people to define themselves by any means that they want as long as they feel good about themselves. How they live, how they treat others, how they impact others, how they affect society, and what they do is all unimportant as long as they feel good about themselves. Modern society is full of people that define themselves not by how they live or by how their life impacts others, but what they do or how they do it. Their view is - “You have to get yours, and don’t let anything or anyone stop you.” Who you know, and who knows you, defines you, and defines you more then how you live, what you set as your goals, and what your future is going to be. We fast track everything and justify our personal actions in the process. Speed dating, speed sex, quickie divorce, quickie workouts, affairs, abuse in its various forms, and greed just to name a few. We do not value taking the proper time to establish, develop, and maintain quality relationships, quality endeavors, and quality values within our lives. We justify our selfish actions by saying that what we want is what we must have personally. We act as if others that oppose our will are terrible and judgmental. Anyone that questions our will is to be ignored, devalued, or destroyed. We do this where we can fill better about ourselves. In the process, we also try to make our peers respect us by degrading others. We have generations full of people that have sought the praise and glory of society and their peers as a means of increasing their own self esteem, instead of pursuing self worth via internal improvements and selfless actions. We see this throughout society. Just a few examples are teenagers that drink or have sex to fit in, adults that inflate their actions, activities, and pursuits where they are revered within their peer community, and leaders that ask for the opinions of their followers before setting agenda’s - that requires only polling not leadership characteristics. Throughout this entire process, we see people that stand for values degraded because they refuse to bend to the winds of society. On a personal level, I have seen this in a close friend. I know a man that routinely inflates his life to make others feel that he and his wife are more important then they are. This is sad considering that the man is well educated, very intelligent - as is his wife. He simply lacks personal self worth. To overcome this, he tries to develop his self worth by impressing others with stories about themselves or their life. He routinely scoffs at anything that is common - i.e. best sellers, popular movies, etc - because they are simple and beneath him, yet at his core he is truly common himself and just trying to run from his own personal self loathing by use of the stories. Unfortunately, similar stories and situations are very common today. People that are unhappy and frustrated with themselves tend to create grander personal accomplishments for themselves, or they pull back into cocoons to protect themselves from the eyes of a prying, judgmental society. Either way in the end they are simply running from their own struggles with low self worth, low self esteem, and low personal fulfillment because they are unhappy with who they are. The saved should not find themselves in such places. That is because the value of a Christian life is not in personal accomplishments, but in the power and actions of God. The God of Abraham, Isaac, David, John, Mary, Martha, and Paul meets you wherever you are and then guides you to a place of importance, and fulfillment. All of those listed above had times of personal lows, rebellion, and selfishness. The good news is that after their personal problems, they were built into spiritual greats via God by a maturing time in their lives. God is in the business of taking the low, and the self important as well, and bring them to a personal realization of their flaws, and then rebuilding us as new creation in His perfect image. Though salvation is instantaneous and permanent, the work of maturing and rebuilding takes time. God does not make you a powerful force within His Army overnight. He builds you up slowly and consistently by filing away the old worthless self and rebuilding you with new desires, goals, and hopes. He does not do this based on your personal abilities, education, skills, or economic status, but based on His love, the redemptive blood of His son Jesus that was shed on the cross to pay the price for your sins, and your commitment to Him. While Christ was here on earth He was very clear about His purpose and reason for coming, it was to save the lost from an eternity in Hell. Being fully God, Christ also was clear about what it took to be part of His body and to be saved and how the saved can live a powerful and abundant life through Him. *"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:6* "Jesus said unto her, (Martha) I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:" John 11:25 “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:17 "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." I John 5:11-12 In the process of telling His followers about their eternal options, and the possibility of their salvation via His blood, Christ also made promises about how He would care for the saved. A FEW of God’s promise to the saved are that He would never leave them nor forsake them (Hebrews 13:5), that all GOOD things come from Him (James 1:17), that there is an eternal resting place for the saved (John 14:2), that Christ came to give His followers abundant life (John 10:10), that God’s desire is to make His followers fishers of men (Matthew 4:19), and that the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few (Luke 10:2). The last three points speak directly to what we are talking about here - living a life that is fulfilled, fruitful and full of self worth. In John 10:10 Christ says “I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly" Notice Christ did not come to make the lives of his believers boring and drab, but to give them abundant lives. To us that means lives filled with purpose, fulfillment, and direction. It means having a reason to live, not just a reason to survive. It means having a future and a plan for your life. This point leads us to the next two verses, Matthew 4:19 and Luke 10:2. Part of the purpose that God has for you is to change the lives of those that you meet for Him. We are the physical feet and hands of Christ on earth. There is a lost world that is our responsibility to work to change. He has us here to impact and change the world, not hide from it. The world needs to hear from us (i.e. - the harvest is great), and He plans to use us to change the world (i.e. - making us fishers of men, calling us to be workers). Which leads to our last point, when God is using you He is the one doing the work. Look for Ephesians 2:8-10 to see our point. Ephesians 2:8-10 - 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. The purpose, direction and fulfillment that comes to your life after accepting Christ is due to what God does through you, not what you do for God. You are no longer living for yourself and for the things that the world can give you. You are living to serve, not living for status, and that makes all the difference when you are developing your self esteem, self worth and finding your purpose. Do not let the world effect how you view yourself any longer. The world’s ways are not God’s ways, but His ways are the ways of righteousness, quality, values and personal worth. Go out and allow God, and the work that He does through you, to define you as you impact the world for Him. Doing this will define your worth, your self esteem, your values, your goals, your purpose and most of all your future.