Self-Esteem

Self esteem. We are ingrained in America that it is the the attribute most needed for success. It has become a synonym of confidence. In today's society, we have to look out for Number #1, self, because if we don't love self then we can't love others. Just typing in self-esteem quotes into google gave me all of these....


You must love yourself before you love another. By accepting yourself and fully being what you are, your simple presence can make others happy. -Unknown

You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.- Siddhartha

Your chances of success in any undertaking can always be measured by your belief in yourself. -Robert Collier

I am sure 99% of the world would agree with those quotes. Even 99.9% of religions of the world would agree with them. Buddhism defines low self-esteem as a negative emotion, calling it a delusion. Hinduism has an entire website devoted to teaching you how to raise your self-esteem. LSD.net, the homepage for the Mormon church has a forum on how to host your own self-esteem workshop at your church. As a teenager I tried the Buddhist approach to reach him. I attended Jehovah Witnesses services. They all were about me creating a better self in hopes of attaining the perfect self, God.

Then there is Christianity. The Bible has stories like David and Goliath, victories, but even more it's filled with true, real men and their failures. That doesn't make me sigh in disappointment, but instead, is the reason why I love the Bible so much. Can you imagine how impersonal and unrealistic it would be if every person was this perfect "Christian"? Jesus wasn't followed by a bunch of rich kings and politicians, but prostitutes, thieves, and average Joe's. That's who He chose. All other religions of the world have this "man needs to reach God" mentality, where Christianity is the ONLY religion where God came to man. Likewise, where the world is trying to obtain self-esteem, Christ teaches esteeming others. Think about it....there is nothing that cures a case of the blues like doing something for someone else. It's so easy to throw a pity party for myself when I open all of my bills, but then I get a good dose of reality when God reminds me of all the men, women, and children in the world that don't even have a pillow for their heads.  And where the world promotes Goliaths, men who will do anything for a dollar, for the spotlight, the Bible puts the spotlight on people who cared more about serving and loving others than they did about themselves.  They had a right view of God.  Not that they hated themselves, but loved others more.

Oh, how different our world would be if we would stop trying to make ourselves fell good, look good, esteeming ourselves and instead esteemed those around us. Looked to serve at the sake of ourselves. How much more love would there be? 

To finish, here is a clip for a comedy stand up by Brad Stine that is just perfect...