Take the 'Self' out of 'Self-Esteem'

When people have constant issues of being hurt by people, they tend to get worn down. They become battered up in the beatings they receive regularly, and I don't mean physical beatings -A person’s heart can be at stake from just verbal abuse. 

How do they prevent themselves from being torn up, though? Especially when all the psychologists tell them is to "stay away from those 'emotionally toxic' people or to stand up to them, and keep your self-esteem up and you won't get hurt by those meanies!" At that point, if they have gone to see a psychologist that is, they probably don't even know what the word 'self-esteem' means anymore. In case you don't know either,  Here is what the dictionary says:

a confidence and satisfaction in oneself 

I don't know about you, but I don't believe that the bible says that if we fill our-self with enough confidence that we won't get hurt. Nor does the bible say to “love yourself and think highly of yourself, for it is healthy and your happiness shall be rooted in it”.  It actually says the opposite; The Bible tells us to die to self, not to esteem self. Building up your self esteem is like building your castle on the sand, where the taunting waves can come wash it over whenever they like. If we build our foundation on the rock though, we then get the result of God-esteem. You see, Our self-esteem can be easily hurt, but God never changes -and when we put our faith and value in him, and not ourselves, how can our value ever diminish? 

If we base our value in God and not our self, then no matter what someone says or does, our value will never lessen. It will no longer matter what other thinks of us, but what God thinks of us. And if God is pleased with us then others will be as well because they will find that you have a heart filled with the love of God. When someone is trying to hurt us, we need to learn to show them love and ‘turn the other cheek’. By showing Gods love and mercy to the people who are trying to bring us down, we are obeying Gods word –and if we are basing our value on ‘God-esteem’, then shining Gods light will come naturally.

So maybe it's time to take 'self' out of 'self-esteem', and replace it with God-esteem -For then we will truly find value in ourselves.

~Miss.Adriana Castillo

We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insult of those who insult you have fallen on me”. 

~Romans 15:1-3