Quote:
Originally Posted by ManOfWord
I went up to my youngest son, who is a Junior in High School, put my arm around him and asked, "Have I told you lately how proud I am to be your Father?" Obviously, he beamed with delight.
Self-esteem, IMO, is recognizing the truth that we are valueable. True self-esteem can only come from recognizing our worth in Jesus Christ. We also need to recognize that we are immportant to others as well.
Pride is taking the credit ourselves.
I know who I am in Jesus Christ. I know what and who He has made me. I value what the Lord has done in my life. It fuels me. It encourages me. I recognize on a small scale how valueable I am to Him. He paid the ultimate price for me. That gives me self-esteem, not pride. With that self-esteem based on what Jesus did for me, I can walk with head held up high, not my nose!!!  |
Well, no, it doesn't give you "self-esteem." Recognizing that someone else, i.e. Christ, places value on you is not an act of you esteeming yourself or placing value on yourself.
However, this notion of us being SOOOOOOOO valuable to Christ that He would give Himself for us is false doctrine. The Bible makes it clear that all flesh is as grass (here one moment and burned up in the fire the next) and that all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags (for the sake of delicacy, I won't bother to go into what that means in the Hebrew). We are commanded to deny ourselves, die to self, etc. These are acts of self-effacement, not self-esteem. Paul explained in
Romans 9 that there was nothing inherently good in Jacob or inherently bad in Esau that caused God to love Jacob and hate Esau. Also, what was Job's reaction when God showed him where he really stood with God? Did he esteem himself? No.
Self-esteem and lowliness of mind are absolutely incompatible.