Growing up in the 70’s and 80’s, I heard much said about people with low self-esteem. It seemed to be such a sad thing. Something that no one had any control over; if you had low self-esteem, it was just something that you had to learn how to live with it. I repeatedly heard that I suffered with a low self-esteem; ‘poor thing.’ Through my life, I have just learned how to ‘deal with it;’ or maybe it’s more like how to pretend that it’s really not there because who wants to admit to feeling that you have less worth than others around you? This is no pity party; this is reality for so many people. All you have to do is Google low self-esteem and you will see a myriad of websites that will tell you about different levels of self-esteem, how to raise your self-esteem, and how to love yourself. If this weren’t an issue for many, I dare say that there wouldn’t be so much advice about what it is and how to change it.

The focus of ‘self’ has been very much on my heart and mind lately as there seems to me an overabundance of obsession with our-selves. My generation was highly littered with the how-to’s of raising your self-esteem, which lead to a generation of people with inflated self-esteem; i.e. entitlement.

I am searching God’s will and His recipe for an answer to this dilemma. I believe that what we need to seek; instead of a high self-esteem, is a God esteem. If each person were to know their identity in Christ and that they belong to the King of kings and Lord of lords, this dilemma of a low self-esteem would no longer have any power. The enemy would no longer have power. The enemy is defeated; we just need to remind him of that very fact so that he can slither away back into his hole.

At the point of accepting Christ as our Savior; we no longer have the burdens of the self, the burdens of this world. We can carry the easy yoke and the light burden of the Savior and He will assume all the heaviness that is too much for us to handle.

I was reading a how-to blog post; for research sake, about how to ‘love yourself’ and saw another example of how the enemy has counterfeited what God has given to us. The benefit that I took from this blog post was the need for me to share with you how to truly grow into the masterpiece that God created you to be, when He planned for you and your purpose so long ago.

Ephesians 2:10 (NLT) “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

1. Throw away the self-help books and pick up your Bible and read it.
2. Spend time in prayer and silence with God. God created you and He adores you! How wonderful is it to spend time with someone who knows your every cell and has been with you for every moment of your life and loves you like no human being has the capacity to?
3. Spend time with other believers. Go to church, join a small group, take a discipleship class, do something with other believers that will encourage you and hold you accountable. NOTE: Focusing on ourselves all the time leads to isolation which leads to an unhealthy mind and an open target for the enemy to attack your thinking.

Romans 12:2 (NLT) “ Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

YOU ARE LOVED! YOU ARE ACCEPTED! YOU BELONG TO GOD! YES, I AM TALKING TO YOU!