“An individual’s self-concept is the core of his personality. It affects every aspect of human behavior: the ability to learn, the capacity to grow and change. A strong, positive self-image is the best possible preparation for success in life” says Psychologist and Author Dr. Joyce Brothers. It is very interesting to see how our perception of ‘self’ not only determine whether we enjoy or endure life, but it also plays a key role in shaping our destiny as we become what God wants us to become. The dictionary defines self-worth as “the sense of one’s own value or worth as a person.”
We live in a culture that is constantly bombarding us with messages that make us more and more conscious of our own self and self-worth. In a culture that idolizes physical beauty, external looks and appearance many of us feel very insecure because we find ourselves not measuring up to the society’s criteria for worth. It is a tragedy that our culture emphasizes so much on external looks that we unconsciously believe that the worth of a thing is defined by its looks. In today’s culture it is your ability to sparkle (catch the eye of the media or people’s attention) that defines your worth.
In a culture that idolizes physical beauty, external looks and appearance many of us feel very insecure because we find ourselves not measuring up to the society’s criteria for worth.
We have thousands of self-help books out there teaching us how to feel better about our self, but many of them are too superficial, they do not address the root of this problem. Self-worth is not determined by being a certain size, having a certain amount of money or intelligence, looking a certain way or living in a certain lifestyle. Our true worth comes from our realization of who we are deep within. It is very unfortunate that many people look to external sources (other people and circumstances) so that they can feel good about themselves. We look for acceptance and approval from friends and family that make us feel that we have some worth. If our self-worth is based on external sources I can assure you that you are in for a big disappointment and a constant roller-coaster of feeling inferior and worthless.
Poor self-image and inflated self-image (pride) are two extremes that could equally destroy us; either of them could take us away from God and destroy our soul. Both of them are rooted in and are results of our fallen nature.
Jim Courier, who was the world # 1 tennis player, said “It is very dangerous to have your self-worth riding on your results as an athlete.” If you let your results determine your worth, you will be doomed very soon because you can’t be unbeatable all the time. Yes, it is true that results do affect your reputation and successes that can make you feel good, but hanging our self-worth on our performance or any external source is fatal. Poor self-image and inflated self-image (pride) are two extremes that could equally destroy us; either of them could take us away from God and destroy our soul. Both of them are rooted in our sin and are results of our fallen nature. Though the world often contributes to our feelings of worthlessness, ultimately it is the sin in us that makes us feel worthless, remember Adam and Eve as soon as they sinned they experienced shame and worthlessness.
The Bible clearly teaches that we are all created in God’s image; however sin detracted the beauty and worth of every human being. Sin cannot destroy the image or likeness of God but it does tarnish it. Most new mirrors show a good reflection of things for some time, but as time passes the mirror gets tarnished making the reflection blurry, similarly our sin nature makes it difficult for us to see our true reflection in God’s image. The reason why many of us irrespective of our level of success in life feel worthless on occasion is because our sinfulness makes it difficult for us to see God’s image in us. The only way we can truly fix our problem of low self-worth is by constantly seeing ourselves as God sees us or through God’s eyes.
Dean & Laura VanDruff use a car parable to help us understand our worth “If I offer a car for sale, which I think is worth 7K, and offers are made ranging from 2K to 9K, how much is the car worth? The 7K that I think it’s worth? The “low-ball” offer of 2K? No. The car is worth what the highest bidder is willing to pay in the open market…We are not worth what we happen to think, or any “low-ball” offer. We are worth what the highest bidder will pay. The highest bidder is God, and the price-tag is the Cross. God looked out across the eternal ages and said, “I’ll take that one, even though the price is steep!” Our worth is established once and for all, and can never change or diminish. God made the ultimate offer and paid the highest price (1 Peter 1:18-19, 1 Cor 7:23). So the next time you feel like checking your own worth, do not look to the world, look at the cross, that is how much you are worth to the highest bidder (God).
The only way we can truly fix our problem of low self-worth is by constantly seeing ourselves as God sees us or through God’s eyes.
– – Author: Rev. Francis Burgula – –
