How Focusing on Jesus Cures Low Self-Worth
Something I am continuing to allow God to grow me in is strengthening how I see myself. For most of my life, I’ve struggled with low self-worth and by God’s grace He is helping me to learn, grow, and heal. Low self-worth develops very early on and is a result of growing up in environments where we were not consistently affirmed, nurtured, and built up.
The amazing news is that Jesus offers the best cure to low self-worth. However, before getting to the practical, we must ground ourselves in two primary truths.
The primary truths we must anchor ourselves in are:
Truth #1: We are created in God’s Image
(This is not a license to start saying we are on the same level as God!) I don’t care what science books tell you. We did not evolve from monkeys or single-celled organisms. God’s word says, “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” -Genesis 1:27
Low self-worth consists of thinking that one’s worth comes from outside of themselves. That you are what you are good at, you are what you’re not good at, you are how other people treat you, you are how other people don’t treat you, or you are what other people think of you. The truth is, your worth comes from who created you. It is an undeniable fact that God created you in His image and He created you to be like him. No one can take that truth from you, unless you allow them to. And there is a being who desires to take that truth from you and he’s been trying to do it since the beginning.
Truth #2: Jesus is the Source of Biological and Spiritual Life
Recently, I rewatched Star Wars episodes 4-9 and for reasons that I can not list right now, I was filled with inspiration and wonder. I love the movies, but if I were able to sit down and talk with the director and creator of the film, if I was able to actually exist in the Star Wars universe, my joy would abound! It would abound because I’d be closer to the source, experiencing the reality of the world that is Star Wars, not just watching it from my laptop.
The same can be said about deciding to do life with Christ as opposed to simply existing on the fringes of Christianity or not knowing Christ at all. Jesus is the creator of biological life because all life came into being through him. God’s word says, “The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone.” John 1:3
And Jesus is the source of spiritual life…because He is the very source of our inner existence. He is life itself. God’s word also says “Jesus replied, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” John 6:35
So if you are trying to do life without Christ, I’m sorry friend, but that’s not life. It’s death.
Replace The Lie With The Truth About Christ
So this brings us to our practical take away for how to be cured from low self-worth by focusing on Christ. If we think of ourselves in self-deprecating ways, we are going the path of death. If we think of ourselves in God-honoring ways, we are going the path of life. The enemy constantly feeds us lies that attack our identity which result in low-self worth. However, just as Jesus combated the enemies lies in the wilderness with God’s truth, so too must we, with the help of the Holy Spirit, combat the enemies lies with God’s truth.
The first thing we must identify is the lie. The only way to identify a lie is to first align yourself with the truth. For the sake of this post, I will identify one lie that contributes to low-self worth and provide the scriptural truths that shed light on the darkness.
The Lie: “I’m Worthless”
I’ve gone through some very rough times in my life. Feelings of worthlessness and not being good enough can overwhelm me and thoughts of self-loathing can plague my mind. But what I’m realizing is those thoughts and those feelings are not from God! So why allow myself to dwell on them? Instead, God encourages me to dwell on truth.
The Truth: “My Creator thinks I’m worth giving up His very life.”
God, the Creator, breathed his own life into us. He gave a part of his very existence to us. In his book, “A Journey From T1 relationships to Personal Freedom” Dr. Winston Collins says, “Without your Creator’s spirit, you would not exist and you would not have intrinsic value. Your intrinsic value makes you important.” The very fact that you have breath in your body from God makes you valuable. Makes you worthy. Not because of any good you’ve done, but because of who created you. We mean the world to our Creator. He loves us and His love is what makes us worthy and valuable. His love is what gives us esteem!
John 3:16 is one of the most well-known scriptures and though it has become somewhat of a cliche, our worth is summed up in its’ words: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.” It is because God loves us that He sent Jesus. He wanted to bring us back to him because of how much we mean to Him so He gave up his very self to redeem us. That’s how much value God sees in us. That’s how much we are worth to him.
The reason why we think we’re worthless can be boiled down to one thing: sin. Sin we’ve committed makes us feel guilt and shame. We may have grown up in environments where we were inappropriately punished and shamed for sinning, so in turn we hated ourselves instead of hating our behavior. Or we try to just fix the behavior in order to get love and avoid shame.That self-hatred then becomes a part of our identity and we develop the mindset of worthlessness. The problem with this is being inappropriately punished and shamed for sin is also sinful. So the pattern becomes, a young child sins and is then sinned against. The result can only be sin, which distorts our view of ourselves, others, and God.
Here’s the kicker: Jesus came to do away with sin. He died to eradicate the power of our own sin and the sins commited against us, so that we can be in relationship with Him! The lover of our souls! Jesus’ blood shows how much he esteems us. It shows how much we are worth to him, the one who created us.
This is the focus. This is the truth that eradicates low self-worth, it is the foundation on which we must build our lives.
Friend, when feelings and thoughts of worthlessness come, remind yourself of who created you and who redeemed you. For my unbelieving friends, just know that Jesus wants to redeem you.
So when the thought comes…”I’m worthless.” You can respond, “My creator thinks I’m worth giving up his very life.” And keep saying it. Keep believing it. God will make that seed grow for his glory.
“Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.” Colossians 2:7
Love and Light,
Kourtney Naomi
