Realizing Your True Self Worth

It has been said that we get our ideas of our own self worth from the people in our lives that mean the most to us. We can also get our beliefs about ourselves from those we meet casually or even just once. Impressions that people make on us can have a profound impact on our self image. In other words, if the people in our lives give us a sense that they love us and we mean something to them, then we feel like we have value and are worth something.

The problem with that thinking is that over the course of time people's feelings change. People's opinions can shift. If you truly base your own self worth on someone else's perspective, what might happen to you (mentally) if those same people turn their backs on you? What might you do if one of those people is your spouse and now they want a divorce? How do you reconcile the fact that the person who promised to love you forever, no longer does? How would you feel if your parents hid the fact that you were adopted and now your own opinion of yourself has shifted?

How do you judge your self worth if you've been laid off of fired from a job you worked at for twenty or thirty years? What do you do when even if only subconsciously, the person you have entrusted with your self worth moves away, leaves you, lets you down, or dies?

People also have a bad habit of attributing their sense of worth and self esteem to the material things they have been able to achieve in life, or more to the point; what they have not been able to achieve. People often have a skewed perception that the accumulation of money, wealth and things puts a higher value on their own lives. Things don't make people happy nor do they raise or lower your own value.

Believing that your self worth comes from others or other things can be problematic. You can be trapped in a vicious cycle of never living up to your own potential because you are constantly searching in the wrong direction to get the approval from those that matter in your life. You are not here on Earth to live your life through other people. This is your life and you have the God-given right to live it as you please. If you spend your life trying to always accumulate the next big electronic that hits the market or that new car in the showroom, you will never have the time to sit back and enjoy what you already have. Instead you will be a complainer. Always voicing your opinion about what is not right with the stuff you have. "I wish I had this," and "I need this". You are so worried about what other people have compared to you. You'll wind up a bitter, unhappy person that most people won't even want to be around.

Your self worth should never be determined by what other people think. You are not a commodity whose value changes with the whim of a fickle market. You are the creation of the Most High God, the Creator of the Universe. You are His child and only what He thinks about you matters. You need to realize that you are more valuable to Him than the value we place on material things such as gold. You are more precious to God than diamonds are to us. Our self worth comes from what God thinks of us. God tells us in scripture that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. Furthermore he makes it known that He formed us and knew us while we were still in the womb. God loves you unconditionally.

There is nothing wrong with you when people reject you or people hurt you. Have you lost the value that you had yesterday because today someone no longer wants to be your friend? No, I suspect the problem might be with the other person. Are you somehow worth less today than you were yesterday because someone today cursed you out? Of course not. You are the same special person you have always been. Their opinion has changed or their feelings but you haven’t changed.

Never allow what others say about you or what someone does to you to affect the way you know God feels about you. You are His greatest creation. There is not another you anywhere else in existence. You are one of a kind and mighty special to Him. Whenever you need a friend or someone to give you a pep talk, He is always there for you.

When people let you down. When things don’t go your way. When people curse you, bless them. When people reject you, know that God loves you just the way you are. When you are down, God can allow you to soar despite your circumstances. When people hate you or do you wrong; love them and still do good towards them. You really have the ability to do that. Killing someone with kindness is a real possibility. Not killing them in the meaning of death, but putting a stop to the ugliness and bitterness that causes them to act the way they do. You don’t have to let their behavior drag you under. You can build them up to your level instead of you picking a fight or getting mad at them. You can bring them up to your level. You should never let someone else’s attitude problem or their hatred tear you down. Again, you have the power to bring them up.

Don’t believe me? Have you ever been in a great mood only to lose it when someone in a bad mood enters the room and their mood permeates the room? Now their behavior and attitude has rubbed off on everyone else in the classroom or office. You’ve allowed someone else to dictate to you what kind of mood to have. Teachers, friends, siblings, bosses can all be a mood killer, if you let them.

Turn the tables on them and don’t allow them to affect you. Ignore them. Concentrate on what is good in life. Instead of letting that person dictate your actions, you be in control and affect their mood for the better.

Don’t allow other people to determine your self worth. Don’t let your circumstances dictate to you your self esteem. Don’t allow Hollywood, Weight Watchers, your spouse, your parents, your children or even your own perception of yourself to determine your self worth. You need to know that your inner beauty far out weighs what people see on the outside. Your compassion and empathy towards others far surpass your self loathing or self pity.

I certainly don't mean for you to walk around thinking more highly of yourself than you should. You are special but no better than anyone else. Keep your attitude and ego in perspective and see yourself the way your Father in heaven sees you.

It doesn’t matter to me whether or not you believe in God. He believes in you and He loves you very much. Biblical principles have been proven to work even for non believers. I dare you to think about yourself the way God sees you.

Article inspired by a sermon by Joel Osteen