2 Corinthians 5:17-21
This affliction is no respecter of persons.
There is no way we can compare to the unrealistic standards we place on ourselves.
Judging yourself by the wrong standard.
We're using an unreliable scale to determine our worth.
1. Self-esteem can be found in your identity.
We see ourselves as less than we really are.
"This is who I am and this is what I deserve."
Low self-esteem is based on a distorted perception of our identity.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
When we receive Him into our lives, He makes us brand new.
In Christ, you have been given a new identity.
2. Self-esteem can be found in our mission.
It's much safer to settle for mediocrity.
18 All this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
19 That God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
He is serious about your involvement in this mission.
Our professional accomplishments aren't nearly as important as our spiritual accomplishments.
Your quality of life is determined by the level of your spirituality.
We can feel good about ourselves because of the mission to which we have been called.
3. Self-esteem can be found in our potential.
"Well… I had a feeling I was going to fall in. So I took them off."
(Translation: I couldn't help myself).
The labels we place on ourselves are indicative of our self-esteem.
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
Your old label may have been sinner, but your new label is Saint.
Your old label may have been guilty, but your new label is Forgiven.
Your old label was dead-in-sin, but your new label is Alive-In-Christ.
But Jesus saw a leader of the early church.
Your potential is literally unlimited.
The secret of self-esteem is seeing yourself as God sees you.
Reconciliation means bringing into agreement that which was out of harmony.
"The more we focus on who we are in Christ, the less it matters who we were in the past, or even what happened to us."
Grace means that God already loves us as much as an infinite God can possibly love.
"God doesn't want something from us. He simply wants us."
God's love for us remains constant and unshakable.
But God says that's not true.
SUCH WERE SOME OF YOU.