A healthy self-esteem will see the wonderful creation of God in self.
So often, Satan uses “pride” as a tool to kill our self-esteem: “the way you behave, you walk is nothing else than pride, you have to humble yourself, close out this pride and learn humility.” And I also got deceived. I wanted always to be humble, that people would see Jesus in me, and indeed I was behaving as a saved person, who is free to do everything in Christ. I had no barriers in talking with someone, travelling anywhere, because Jesus Christ was with me, and I talked with him constantly.
Then, I somehow felt and believed what Satan lied me. I tried to learn humility and not humbleness. There is a difference between the two. Humility is the state when you are unwillingly diminished by someone else, and humbleness is a state when you see that there is someone else greater than you and urges you to obey and live holy life.
Actually, Satan wanted to destroy my self-esteem, so later he could use his own way to raise my self-esteem in a foolish temporary way. Though, only God can give a permanent good self-esteem, because He is the only One who can appreciate His creature and I am His creature. Satan wants to destroy me, to steal and defeat.
“You cannot keep birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.” (Martin Luther King Jr.)
A believer’s self-respect is a respect for a child of God. Definitely, there is a difference between egoistic self-respect and respect for the newborn child of God. But as a Christian, I also lost this self-respect and started believing the lies of the head of liars, I tended to lose the barriers, in the end I lost sensitivity for sin.
Therefore, please look upon God! God alone can give a real image of ourselves. He is the only One, who knows exactly how He built us up and He knows perfectly what our price is! So, cherish your new-born character and don’t look at this life, at pleasures, at horrific lies! But look upon Jesus Christ, the One who showed how much He loves you and me. This is love, before the cross is the only way to humble ourselves, no need to give up on our values, but we must see our value in Jesus Christ. 🙂
