You are not alone.
All people, in some fashion, struggle with self-worth. How do you establish something’s value? Price? Your need for it? Quality? Emotional attachment?
What is the value of a human being? I talked about that in my post “Abortion and the Damage Done.” We have immense value to God, and if He has given us incredible value, who are we to disagree with Him?
One thing I tell people is this powerful truth: People treat you the way they do because of how they perceive you in relation to how they see themselves. Most people think the way others treat us is directly relative to how we perceive ourselves. The problem with that notion is it just isn’t true.
How in the world could someone, who doesn’t even know you, treat you according to your perception of yourself? We have interactions with people who don’t know us and they treat us as they feel we should be treated — according to their perceptions of us. In other words, the way you are treated has less to do with you and more to do with them. Example: if you are a kind and gentle person and you get bullied, that is proof positive that the bully has emotional issues that you have nothing to do with. People are generally self-centered and you can’t change the way people see you; ultimately, only they can choose to do that.
Jesus went from city to village revealing the love of God to sinful mankind, teaching the precepts of the New Covenant, and proving that Heaven has come to Earth with signs, wonders, and miracles and people still chose to hate — even kill — Him because they could imagine no other way to deal with their deep jealousy of Him than to be rid of Him! Jesus would have been fully justified to destroy all those wicked people as in the days of Noah, but He relented because He did not come to condemn the world, but to save the world. Hallelujah!
“People treat you the way they do because of how they perceive you in relation to how they see themselves. ”
Criminal acts are committed because of the self-perception of the criminal, not the victims. If you see yourself as a criminal, you will act like a criminal. If you see yourself as just a by product of evolution, you will act like an animal.
Have you deliberately failed to show appreciation to somebody even after they did something kind for you? If so, you have displayed a personal perception of worthlessness. You cannot give what you do not possess. You cannot give somebody proper appreciation if you have none for yourself. I had to accept this powerful truth so I could actually see myself as I truly was and allow God to minister to my deep need for self-acceptance.
In the beginning stages of depression, as the dark clouds rolled in, one thing I quickly developed was a deep appreciation for people I never had before. I was being humiliated by this terrible demonic oppression and I was deeply appreciative of everyone who took the time and effort to help me-whether or not they actually helped, but they tried. I knew God was allowing this humbling to happen because I needed to start viewing others with value and being worthy of appreciation.
“We become what we think of ourselves.”
Proverbs 23:7a (KJV) states, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” A modernizing of the verse might be, “As a man thinks of himself, he will be.” Our thoughts and self-perceptions are extremely powerful. God has given us amazing powers of creativity and production. We can use those powers in the right way or the wrong way. It’s truly up to us.
If you continue to think you’re worthless when you really are valuable to others, you are deceiving yourself and preventing yourself from an intimate relationship with others and it absolutely affects your relationship with God! I found that more people do not pray and read their Bibles when they are feeling depressed because they feel judged/condemned by God for their sins. The problem with that notion is the Person we MOST need to go to in our times of trouble is God Himself. The devil wants to convince us of the lie that says, ‘We need to stay away from God. We can’t trust God because He let us have depression to teach us a lesson.’ God isn’t trying to teach us a lesson! He has to allow the devil to attack us because we gave the devil (Satan) the legal right to attack us when we sin. (Please read Job 1:1 - 2:7)
The most valuable relationship we can have is with God; and He’s the One who gives us any true personal worth!
Photo by Samuel Zeller on Unsplash
Mankind physically stretches themselves toward Heaven, doing things in their own strength as if God’s Kingdom was touchable, accessible. The people behind the Tower of Babel learned that Heaven was not open to just anyone. The fact of the matter is that we cannot reach Heaven without Jesus’ help.
We know in our hearts, that we do not deserve to know God, yet He makes Himself available to us by meeting with us in our times of seeking Him: prayer times in our regular language, when we read His Word, obeying the Royal Law of Love, worshiping Him in Spirit and in truth, by praying in the Spirit on all occasions, and, of course, by receiving His Holy Spirit so we can be empowered to live for Him to affect change in the world so “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven” can come to fruition. How awesome is it that God loves us so much that He wants to remain with us as we remain with Him - always?!
Adam and Eve sold their place in the Kingdom for a piece of fruit because they did not believe God’s Word. Joseph’s brothers sold him to slave traders for 20 pieces of silver because they could not bear the thought of his dreams coming to pass. Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver (not even gold) because he didn’t believe Jesus was truly the Son of God. Jesus laid down His life AND established a blood covenant - at the same time - because He perceived us with a very high value.
You’re worth it! You’re a Child of the Most High God!
Prayer
My Lord and my God! You are awesome in every way and I thank You that You have never abandoned me - even in my darkest times. I deeply appreciate Your work in my life and I ask that You would continue to reveal Your deep love for me in ways I cannot miss. I ask that You would please forgive me for not seeing myself as You see me, but I choose today to receive the revelation of love and self-perception of a Child of Yours! Please forgive me for the things I’ve done because I saw myself as worthless and powerless (Name them and repent of, renounce, and reject them from your life). Please forgive me for the times I leveraged favors for people that did not align with Your perceptions of me (name them). Help me serve You even though I have times of feeling weak and vulnerable. Help me get out of bed or off the couch and into the life You made me to live. In Jesus’ mighty name I pray, amen.
Banner picture by John Hain at Pixabay