Guitarhero
New Member
I found this article personally helpful. I cannot help the ones who misjudge me because they are uncomfortable with differences, I know who created me and He did a perfect work. Whatever others think of me out of misunderstanding or even evil is not what I should think of myself. 
Rise higher than self and look towards Him who created me.
As many of you know, the brand of biblical counseling that OAM does is quite different from secular psychological counseling (which we don't really believe is valid for Christians or actually anyone, see our article Biblical Counseling ). The counseling we do is distinctively biblical because we believe the problems people have in their lives are caused because they are unaware of the true character of God, or because they are unwilling to believe what they know from the Bible to be true about Him.
When we encounter a problem, in our own lives or in the lives of those we work with, we go directly to the Bible and see what it has to say about that problem. 2 Tim. 3:16-17 gives us the reason why this is the purpose for the Bible: "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." When we line up our beliefs about God with the written word of God, this is the first step towards healing and towards learning the "secret" Paul knew in Philippians 4:12-13, "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength."
On the topic of self-esteem, the first place to go is the Bible. We must note in our study of the Bible that there are absolutely no instances of God encouraging someone to have a better "self-esteem". However, there are many, many places where God tells people not to think more highly of themselves (Romans 12:3; Luke 16:15; Deut. 17:14-20; 1 Kings 19:3-18; Proverbs 16:19; 25:6,7; Luke 14:7-11), and in Phil. 2:3-4 we are told to "consider others as better than yourselves".
Unfortunately for modern psychology, the Bible does not in any way support the idea that mankind needs to think MORE of him/herself. The theme of the Bible tells us that the problem mankind struggles with is not thinking too lowly of ourselves, but thinking too highly, i.e., pride. I know that those who are reading this who are struggling with "low self-esteem" will not find this easy to hear, but I can tell you that it is what the Bible indicates.
There are two basic things you must know about how we were created. First, we were created in the image of God, out of God's wonderful creativity. This means that we have a certain dignity, given to us not because of who we are, but because God was our Creator. A painting by Picasso can be made of the same things as a painting by Chalkbrd, but hey, which one do you think is worth more? (And if you've ever seen my stick figures, you'll understand this. Ask my students! LOL) Our dignity is rooted in God's character, His creativity and His love. In and of ourselves, however, we have no value...we are merely the dust of the ground. But because He loves us, we become valuable.
Secondly, since we are all part of the human race, we bear inside us a sin nature. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) None of us are worthy of anything short of the wages of sin, death. (Romans 6:23) We don't "deserve" anything.
As always in keeping with the Bible, these two things must be kept in balance for us to live the lives God has created for us. We must always be mindful of our dignity and our depravity, the two extremes of our character. To go too far in either direction takes us out of the path God has set before us and into a path of pride and selfishness.
What is termed today as "low self-esteem" is in fact a form of the sin of pride. Please hear me all the way out before you turn me off. Let me explain why I believe this is the biblical view.
As I said before, there are two aspects of each human that we must always keep in balance, dignity and depravity. When we lean to the dignity side, we become arrogant, and it becomes obvious that we are dealing with a sin of pride. But leaning towards the depravity side also is a matter of pride.
Rise higher than self and look towards Him who created me.As many of you know, the brand of biblical counseling that OAM does is quite different from secular psychological counseling (which we don't really believe is valid for Christians or actually anyone, see our article Biblical Counseling ). The counseling we do is distinctively biblical because we believe the problems people have in their lives are caused because they are unaware of the true character of God, or because they are unwilling to believe what they know from the Bible to be true about Him.
When we encounter a problem, in our own lives or in the lives of those we work with, we go directly to the Bible and see what it has to say about that problem. 2 Tim. 3:16-17 gives us the reason why this is the purpose for the Bible: "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." When we line up our beliefs about God with the written word of God, this is the first step towards healing and towards learning the "secret" Paul knew in Philippians 4:12-13, "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength."
On the topic of self-esteem, the first place to go is the Bible. We must note in our study of the Bible that there are absolutely no instances of God encouraging someone to have a better "self-esteem". However, there are many, many places where God tells people not to think more highly of themselves (Romans 12:3; Luke 16:15; Deut. 17:14-20; 1 Kings 19:3-18; Proverbs 16:19; 25:6,7; Luke 14:7-11), and in Phil. 2:3-4 we are told to "consider others as better than yourselves".
Unfortunately for modern psychology, the Bible does not in any way support the idea that mankind needs to think MORE of him/herself. The theme of the Bible tells us that the problem mankind struggles with is not thinking too lowly of ourselves, but thinking too highly, i.e., pride. I know that those who are reading this who are struggling with "low self-esteem" will not find this easy to hear, but I can tell you that it is what the Bible indicates.
There are two basic things you must know about how we were created. First, we were created in the image of God, out of God's wonderful creativity. This means that we have a certain dignity, given to us not because of who we are, but because God was our Creator. A painting by Picasso can be made of the same things as a painting by Chalkbrd, but hey, which one do you think is worth more? (And if you've ever seen my stick figures, you'll understand this. Ask my students! LOL) Our dignity is rooted in God's character, His creativity and His love. In and of ourselves, however, we have no value...we are merely the dust of the ground. But because He loves us, we become valuable.
Secondly, since we are all part of the human race, we bear inside us a sin nature. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) None of us are worthy of anything short of the wages of sin, death. (Romans 6:23) We don't "deserve" anything.
As always in keeping with the Bible, these two things must be kept in balance for us to live the lives God has created for us. We must always be mindful of our dignity and our depravity, the two extremes of our character. To go too far in either direction takes us out of the path God has set before us and into a path of pride and selfishness.
What is termed today as "low self-esteem" is in fact a form of the sin of pride. Please hear me all the way out before you turn me off. Let me explain why I believe this is the biblical view.
As I said before, there are two aspects of each human that we must always keep in balance, dignity and depravity. When we lean to the dignity side, we become arrogant, and it becomes obvious that we are dealing with a sin of pride. But leaning towards the depravity side also is a matter of pride.
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