Self-esteem

"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." (2 Cor. 5:17)

On what do you gauge your self worth?  Is it your performance, your looks, others' opinions, or God's Word.  God says that we are a new creature!  Part of the Christian walk is to find out what theis new creature looks like and what God says about it.  A great Bible study to do is to go through the New Testament and write down all the adjectives that describe you as a new creature.  Some of these are: child of God, beloved, alive in Christ, forgiven, God's workmanship, etc... 

I made a chart of the characteristices of the Old nature and the new nature with a line down the center of my paper separating the two.  It was amazing!  The old nature is full of shame, condemned, and dead to the things of God.  But , in contrast, the new nature is a beautiful creature, righteous before God.

As a Christian, I get to choose each day how I am going to walk.  I can choose to believe Satan's lies that I am still that old, pathetic creature, or I can choose the truth of God's Word and know that I am His beloved princess.  I may not always feel like a princess or act like a princess, but the truth still remains, I am a princess!!!

God loves me just because I am His!  I don't have to earn it, be good enough, do enough tasks, I just need to believe that God told me the truth and that I am His!!!  When we get this - I mean really get this, then our self-esteem will soar!  We are children of the King of Kings!  We are worthy of His love because we are His!

Hint for the day: Your precious children are also sons and daughters of the King if they have asked Jesus into their hearts.  You can prepare them for salvation or, if they are saved, help them to know what God thinks about them by helping them to develop a healthy self-esteem by building them up with words of affirmation based on who they are not always on what they do.  It is okay to praise them for a job well done, but it is even better to remind them several times throughout the day how much they mean to you, how precious they are, and that you are glad that they are yours!  When they are filled up with feeling worthy and loved, then they will handle the discipline of actions better.  Remember when you discipline that your child is not "Bad", but rather, they chose to do a "Bad thing".  There is a big difference.