Self-Esteem and Humility

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humble_manIn my last blog, I introduced a series on our God-Given Self-Esteem, examining the teachings of the Bible on the proper way we should see ourselves. We examined David’s words that God made man “a little lower than the heavenly beings, and crowned him with many crowns.” (Psalms 8:5) Unfortunately, we rarely believe or accept this definition of our identity.

In today’s post, we will examine the Biblical teaching that we should be humble. How does this teaching impact any work to raise self-esteem? How can we be humble and still consider ourselves “a little lower than the heavenly beings?” Can we be humble and still be “crowned with many crowns?”

Here are some scriptures that teach us to be humble:

 

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has given you. (Romans 12:3)

But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”  (James 4:6)

 …for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

 

I believe that these scriptures point to a simple truth. They do express reality. We are totally dependent on God. We can do nothing without Him. We are all sinners, saved only by grace.

There is a God and I’m not Him. I can’t comprehend the vastness of the universe. Why, I can barely figure out my cell phone. When considering an all-knowing, all-powerful and all-loving God, any attitude other than humility would be foolish.

My efforts to help people recognize and heal self-esteem wounds is not intended to negate the above scriptures. I believe that any good counseling is a movement toward the truth, and I believe these scriptures are true. We have to be responsible for our mistakes and hurtful behaviors. We all have to recognize our limitations.

But these limitations are universally human. We are all in the same boat. We are all merely human. That’s not a personal defect, it’s just the truth of our identity. In this sense, we should always be humble.

In the next post, we’ll examine how a proper self-esteem can be humble, yet positive. We’ll look at how the world conveys lies that wound self-esteem and destroy our joy. We’ll identify the internal comparison that damages self-esteem.

Question: Have you known anyone that seemed to possess both humility and positive self-esteem? How did they demonstrate this?

I'm a psychologist, who helps people who have sustained self-esteem wounds from past negative experiences, overcome those wounds and experience a more positive self-worth, so they can live more joyful and satisfying lives.

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Categories: Christian, emotional health, God, gratitude, mental health, Self-Esteem, Self-Worth, Stress Reduction, Uncategorized

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2 thoughts on “Self-Esteem and Humility”

  1. I have been struggling with this issue since your last post and picked up a book about the Prayer of Jabez (by Bruce Wilkerson). One of the remarks made by the author is that God’s bounty is limited only by us, not by His resources, power, or willingness to give. The last chapter I read talked about just what you wrote — our dependence on God! It says how easy it is to flounder and feel out of control and weak; but the reason is that we forget our dependence on Him… The book says it is THAT very moment when we’ve backed away from truly living by faith. And so easy to go there! Thank you for putting my head in a place to really examine this; I’ve had the book for 10 years and would pick it up and put it down. Synchronicity makes me want to dig deeper…

  2. Thank you for your comments, Anne. We tend to make it hard because we lean on ourselves and find ourselves lacking. We can’t do much in our own strength. In this case total dependence is a good thing. In fact, it’s the only way.

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