SPIRITUAL LOW SELF-ESTEEM

“Dear Lord,

I come before you unworthy of your presence and attention. Who am I to approach your throne, oh God? For I remain a wretched sinner, only saved by your grace. My righteousness is like a filthy rag before you.  I do not amount to anything before you, for you are the almighty and I am just a slave. Today, I hide behind the cross of calvary and ask that you forgive all my known, unknown, premeditated and, meditated sins. Please sanctify and justify me with the blood of your Son, Jesus. Regenerate me again by your mercy.  Lord, I know I am not qualified to be called one of your own, but at the end of time, and by your grace, let me be counted in the number of those who belong to you”

Cut!

The above prayer seems like that of a humble man, yes? But indeed, it’s not. This can be diagnosed as Spiritual Low Self Esteem. Stay with me! 

Low self-esteem is generally defined as a lack of confidence about or wrong estimation of who you are and what you can do. A low self-esteemed person would often feel incompetent, unloved, or inadequate. It speaks to your perception and valuation of yourself. Spiritual low self-esteem is, therefore, a wrong valuation of who you are ‘spiritually’. It is a feeling of incompetence and inadequacy towards God. 

Of a truth, the believer must never see himself as a deity or equate himself with God, he must however not think of himself as lesser than God has made him. Every Christian must strive to accurately distinguish between who they were pre-salvation and who they are post-salvation. This helps to properly esteem yourself and approach God with the right mindset.

Indeed, the Bible declares that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. However, spiritual pride is not in calling yourself what God has called you; that is rather true humility to God. True pride is viewing yourself beneath what God has made you. Pride is defining yourself according to your flesh.

Paul in 2Cor 5:16 declares that we henceforth regard no man according to the flesh… Why? For “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2Cor 5:17

This truth is so strong, that Apostle Paul, a former and reputable Chief persecutor of the church, who committed many believers to prison and supervised the death of some said with much certainty “We have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man” 2Cor 7:2. Here he speaks of the saved Paul and not the old one. 

Paul is our example. To esteem yourself rightly is to appropriate all the riches of Christ in you. Debasing yourself in a bid to please God who has recreated you is labouring in vain. When you do that, you paint worthless and devalue the precious sacrifice of Jesus that brought about these benefits. You are truly humble to the extent that you call yourself what God has called you, not the other way round.

Do not err, do not make the Galatian mistake; of trying to please God by your ability and self-righteousness, after you have become saved by his grace. Paul tagged that folly Gal 3:3

One shade of Spiritual pride is caused by ignorance of the truth, another shade is a result of arrogance toward the truth. While the former results in thinking too lowly of yourself, the latter makes you think too highly of yourself, resulting in being unruly. The wholesome believer must stay within the confines of the truth. Not below or above.

Thus, before you call yourself unworthy, remember you have been made meet Col 1:12, before you call yourself a sinner, recall that he has given you his righteousness 2Cor 5:21, unqualified to approach his throne? remember he gave you access Eph 3:12. Before you call yourself a slave, remember he calls you SON 1John 3:2; saint Eph 1:1; sanctified 1 Cor 1:2; washed; cleansed; justified 1Cor 6:11; forgiven Eph 1:7.

Dear believer, this is who you are. Do not see yourself as lesser.