Tag Archives: self esteem

October 8, 2015 · 5:30 AM

Wonderful Not Worthless

  
I was doing a self affirmation exercise with a group of people several months ago. In the exercise, the people are to think of a quality that they don’t posses but want to have, and then use present tense verbs to say they have it. One lady stood up and said, “I am enough.” In that moment, my heart broke. She believed she wasn’t enough and her actions in life were in line with that belief. When the group shouted back, “You are enough!”, her face lit up. For the first time in a while, she began to believe she was enough.

Many people live with feelings of inadequacy. They feel that they don’t measure up to the standards others have set. They put on a show for others to see, but inside, they’re dying. They do things to compensate for these insecurities hoping that it will give them worth in someone else’s eyes. They make mistakes that they feel are unforgivable in hopes that someone will look at them as valuable. In the end, it leaves them feeling less than before.

If that describes how you feel, let me direct you to Psalm 139:14. It says, “I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well” (NASB). You are fearfully and wonderfully made. You were designed and created by God with a specific purpose in mind. His works are wonderful, not worthless. Since He made you, that means you are wonderful too, even when you don’t feel like it.

We know from I Samuel 16:7 that God doesn’t measure you by your outward appearance, but by your heart. He looks beyond your actions, through your walls, and into your heart. He sees you for who you really are, and He still thinks you are wonderfully made. If you are struggling with your self worth, let me encourage you to say what that lady in my group said. I want to encourage you to say, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I am enough.” The more you say it, the more you will believe it. God has already said it to you and He believes it. Now it’s your turn to believe it and act on it.

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May 17, 2013 · 7:44 AM

What Determines Your Worth?

I read an article yesterday about a server at a Steak ‘n Shake who got a $446 tip. The lady was clearly excited to receive it. She said some of her other tables had been giving her a hard time and she thought that was the reason behind the tip. In the article, she said something that stuck out to me. She said, “I didn’t think I was worth $400, but that customer does.” She valued herself at less than $400. I started thinking, “How many people value themselves so little?”

If you don’t know, let me be the one to tell you that you are worth well more than $400. How you see yourself or how others see you does not change your worth. It may affect your self confidence, but not your worth. You are a priceless work of art created by God to fulfill a purpose that only you can fulfill. You are valued by God above all other created things. Don’t let your mind or anyone else keep you from seeing that.

I can say that because God didn’t sacrifice His son for any other created being. Think of the angels and how highly we regard them. When Satan got a third of them to rebel against God and God cast them out of Heaven, did He pay a price to redeem them? No. Yet for you, He paid the ultimate price of sending His son to this earth to pay for what you and I do against Him.

Why would He do that for you and not for an angel? It’s because you are worth it to Him. Your life matters. What you do matters. Even if no one else around you values you or who you are, God does. Ultimately it’s His opinion that matters. I know it’s difficult to see when everyone around you values you less than $400. It’s easy to get that mindset when you’re verbally and physically abused. It’s not hard to believe that when those you love don’t appreciate you.

It’s hard to fight those thoughts and believe your worth doesn’t depend on others when everything around you is making you feel lower than dirt. I know. I’ve been there. I used to allow others to determine my worth. Not anymore. I find my worth and my value in who God says I am. I’ve learned to combat those thoughts with the Word of God. I’ve had to recognize when those thoughts come in so I can stop them and replace them with who God says I am. It’s a battle, but one that is worth fighting.

Your worth doesn’t depend on a tip, what someone else says or how they treat you. It depends on the price that God put on you and that’s a high price. You can not be replaced. There never has been or never will be another you. This is your time on earth to do what you were made to do. You have a purpose even if you haven’t found it yet. Keep looking. Keep believing. Keep trusting in Him. You are loved beyond measure and worth more than all the gold in the world.

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October 25, 2012 · 7:05 AM

Perception or God’s Reality

It has been my experience that each of us go through times of low self esteem. We begin to see ourselves the way we perceive others see us. Thoughts creep in if how inadequate we are, how ugly, fat or skinny we are. We begin to dwell on those things and we end up believing them. Once we begin to believe them, we begin acting in a manner as if it were true. We begin to shut out others in our lives and isolate ourselves until we are lonely and depressed.

That is not God’s will for you. Quit imaging what you think others see when they look at you and find out what God says about you. In Psalm 139, David records how we are fearfully and wonderfully made. God made you just who you are and accepts you for that. He loves you more than any human ever could. Verse 17 says, “How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered.” God is so crazy about you and thinks about you so much that you can’t even put a number to the amount of times He think of you.

Who God says you are is more important that who anyone else says you are. Quit placing value on the words of men and place it on what God says. Ultimately what He says matters. He says in Ephesians 2:10 that you are His workmanship and in I Corinthians 3:16 that you are His temple. God created you to be who you are for a reason. You were made for His purpose as His temple. God doesn’t create junk and because He chose to make you His temple, He is telling you that you are beautiful to Him. Until you see yourself through His eyes, you will be disappointed by what you think others see.

Once you begin to see yourself through God’s eyes and you accept that you are who He says you are, you need to change your thoughts about yourself. This is the hard part. Romans 12:2 says, “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” We often hold on to those thoughts and fail to transform into who He created us to be. Here, Paul says to let go of those thoughts and let God change how you think so you can be transformed into that new person.

Our thoughts are very powerful. Thinking right things goes a long way to changing our behaviors. Philippians 4:8 tells us to fix our thoughts on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely and admirable. I love the first one: think on things that are true. Don’t believe the lies that you are worthless, ugly, fat, skinny, beyond help, alone, a failure or unworthy. Those are not true. God says you are a royalty through Him. You are His child that He is crazy in love with. Think about that and let God transform how you see yourself into how He sees you. When you do that, everything will change.

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