Recently
in my church youth programme we’ve been examining the issue of
self worth and self esteem. Even we were surprised at how many of the
young people had a desperately low self-esteem. I remember talking to
someone at the end of last year who told me, “I don’t have
low esteem, I have no self esteem”.
And yet, in talking to some of the leaders I was struck by the fact
that this issue of self worth was not just a burden that the young people
felt. In preparing the meetings, the leaders were also finding issues
of their own self-worth coming to the fore. If we’re honest with
ourselves, we all struggle from time to time with our identity and value.
Society places great pressure on us to look or behave a certain way.
It’s therefore no great surprise that many of us go through life
wanting to be like someone else.
Some of us consider our self-worth is derived from how good we look.
As a result, we compare our looks with others and wish we had their
perfect body. We forget that God looks on us as His individual loving
creation and utters the words “Very Good”.
Some of us consider our self-worth is derived from how well we perform.
So we compare our abilities with others and often wish we could “do
what they do”. We forget that God sees us as His workmanship and
that He is personally committed to help us to reach our full potential
in Him, doing the things He wants us to do.
Some of us consider our self-worth is derived from our status. So we
compare our position to that of others and strive for main-stage ‘Spring
Harvest’ as an accolade of success. Yet God would gently stir
and remind us that Jesus actually gave up His status in order to serve
and give His life for the world. Perhaps rather than struggling to be
like someone else we should make Jesus our role model.
I think it’s clear therefore that we shouldn’t understand
our value and self-worth in terms of our looks, performance or status.
But how do we understand our self-worth? The Apostle Paul gives us the
answer…
Romans 5:6 - 8
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ
died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man,
though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates
his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died
for us.
Friends, if we asked God today how much we are worth I know that He
would simply point to Calvary. Can you say to yourself today “My
life is worth Christ crucified?”. It’s an awesome truth!
And when you’ve started to believe this powerful, life changing
truth for yourself – please share it with a generation that needs
to hear more than ever before!
With great love in Christ
Matt
