SELF-ESTEEM

Today, one of the greatest threats to evangelical preaching comes from the invasion of the church by Adler-Maslow, etc., self-image, self-worth dogmas. Passage after passage in the Bible has been distorted in order to conform to these teachings, with the result that you end up preaching man and his supposed worth rather than Christ. Sometimes that "worth" has been seen as intrinsic, sometimes it has been considered to be the result of salvation... Intrinsically, then, man has no self-worth. Whatever self-worth he pretends to discover in himself is only illusory and, in the end, as Ecclesiastes says, vanishes. Anything worthwhile arises from salvation (fearing God) and sanctification (keeping His commandments). So the idea of intrinsic self-worth must be dismissed.

Jay E. Adams

Preaching With Purpose, Zondervan, 1982, p. 188.

Self-esteemism is based on an unbiblical perspective. It is diametrically opposed to the truth of human depravity. Moreover, while Scripture commends self-control as a fruit of the Spirit, the Bible has nothing positive to say about self-esteem, self-love, or any other variety of self-centeredness.

John MacArthur

Successful Christian Parenting, 1998, p. 42.

The self-esteem cult that goes around saying we've got to build up people's self-esteem is taking them the opposite way that the message of the Bible does because the more you love yourself, the less likely you are to need a Savior.

John MacArthur

It horribly skews the meaning of the cross when contemporary prophets of self-esteem say that the cross is a witness to my infinite worth… The biblical perspective is that the cross in a witness to the infinite worth of God's glory, and a witness to the immensity of the sin of my pride.

John Piper

Do you feel more loved when God makes much of you or do you feel more loved when God at the cost of His Son allows you to make much of Him?

John Piper

According to the spirit of this age, the ultimate sin is no longer the failure to honor and thank God but the failure to esteem oneself. Self-abasement, not God-abasement, is the evil. And the cry of deliverance is not “O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me?” but “O worthy man that I am, would that I could only see it better!”

John Piper

Desiring God, Bethlehem Baptist Church, 1996, p. 277, Used by Permission, www.desiringGod.org.

Often our misunderstanding of God's Word is due not to innocent intellectual slips or lack of information, but rather to a deep refusal to submit to God's demands. A person who intends to manage his own affairs, maintain his pride, and secure esteem and glory from his fellow human beings will twist the words of Jesus to support his own self-esteem. The evil of the human heart precedes and gives rise to many of our apparently intellectual misunderstandings of Scripture.

John Piper

Desiring God, Bethlehem Baptist Church, 1996, p. 297, Used by Permission. www.desiringGod.org.

While I disparage the exercise of “building one’s self-esteem” I indulge in it every time I imagine myself free from the defects I perceive in someone else.

Elisabeth Elliot

Secure in the Everlasting Arms, Revell, 2002, p. 147.

A preoccupation with psychological theory has in many cases eroded confidence in the Scriptures. When the essence of the human predicament is redefined in terms of lack of self-esteem, it is almost inevitable that people will be directed toward a couch but not a cross, a psychologist but not a Savior.

Alistair Begg

Preaching for God’s Glory, Crossway, 1999, p. 19-20.

The wisdom of this world deceptively teaches that believing in the inherent goodness of one’s “self” is foundational to a fulfilled life. However, this erroneous viewpoint overlooks the devastating results of Adam and Eve’s failure to obey God. Scripture teaches that a fulfilled life is not dependent of having a “good self-image” or a “higher self-esteem.” Instead, fulfillment in living depends on your relationship to God and a biblical response to the problem of “self.”

Biblical Counseling Foundation

Self-Confrontation Manuel, Lesson 4, Page 5, Used by Permission of the Biblical Counseling Foundation.

You are not mature if you have a high esteem of yourself. He who boasts in himself is but a babe in Christ, if indeed he be in Christ at all. Young Christians may think much of themselves. Growing Christians think themselves nothing. Mature Christians know that they are less than nothing. The more holy we are, the more we mourn our infirmities, and the humbler is our estimate of ourselves.

C.H. Spurgeon

The higher a man is in grace. The lower he will be in his own esteem.

C.H. Spurgeon

[Self-esteem] is the most popular way that the fear of other people is expressed. If self-esteem is a recurring theme for you, chances are that your life revolves around what others think. You reverence or fear their opinions. You need them to buttress your sense of well-being and identity. You need them to fill you up.

Edward T. Welch

When People are Big and God is Small, P&R Publishing, 1997, p. 15. Used by Permission.

The massive interest in self-esteem and self-worth exists because it is trying to help us with a real problem. The problem is that we really are not okay. There is no reason why we should feel great about ourselves. We truly are deficient. The meager props of the self-esteem teaching will eventually collapse as people realize that their problem is much deeper. The problem is, in part, our nakedness before God.

Edward T. Welch

When People are Big and God is Small, P&R Publishing, 1997, p. 29. Used by Permission.

Pastors of many growing churches preach almost weekly about healthy self-esteem, as if it were taught on every page of Scripture. Too many Christians never see that self-love comes out of a culture that prizes the individual over the community and then reads that basic principle into the pages of Scripture. The Bible, however, rightly understood, asks the question, “Why are you so concerned about yourself?” Furthermore, it indicates that our culture’s proposed cure – increased self-love – is actually the disease. If we fail to recognize the reality and depth of our sin problem, God will become less important, and people will become more important.

Edward T. Welch

When People are Big and God is Small, P&R Publishing, 1997, p. 81. Used by Permission.

Low self-esteem usually means that I think too highly of myself… When you are in the grips of low self-esteem, it’s painful, and it certainly doesn’t feel like pride. But I believe that this is the dark, quieter side of pride – thwarted pride.

Edward T. Welch

When People are Big and God is Small, P&R Publishing, 1997, p. 32. Used by Permission.

Jesus did not die to increase our self-esteem. Rather, Jesus died to bring glory to the Father by redeeming people from the curse of sin. Of course, the cross has many benefits, one being that we are no longer cast out of the presence of God and we have intimacy with the Holy One. But the cross deals with our sin problem, our spiritual need.

Edward T. Welch

When People are Big and God is Small, P&R Publishing, 1997, p. 146-147. Used by Permission.

Secularized self-esteem promotes self-deception regarding one’s spiritual needs, which can then lead to eternal self-destruction.

Kent and Barbara Hughes

Disciplines of a Godly Family, Crossway Books, 2004, p. 99.

It is both dangerous and wrong to substitute personal preference for biblical principle, to place pleasing self above pleasing God. But it is inevitable that we will make this switch if we are going to make self-esteem and a sense of fulfillment the measure of our lives.

Alistair Begg

Made For His Pleasure, Moody Press, 1996, p. 65.

"Self" is at the center of our lusts – our supposed needs for significance, worth, security, identity, or esteem. A psychologized, man-centered view of God and of man appeals to our natural sense of loving ourselves and thus deceives us.

Martha Peace

Attitudes of a Transformed Heart, Focus Publishing, 2002, p. 41.

Obviously self-esteem is not the point. It may be all that can be used for folks in a secular society that will not esteem God, but it is hardly God's great purpose to make you feel like you're something special.

Jim Elliff

Worth a Lot of Sparrows, Christian Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org. Used by Permission.

We are so little and vain that the esteem of five or six persons about us is enough to content and amuse us.

Blaise Pascal

Did you notice that no other books promise to help produce children who esteem others? How can you teach your children to function in God’s Kingdom where it is the servant who leads, if you teach them how to make the people in their world serve them?

Tedd Tripp

Shepherding a Child’s Heart, Shepherd Press, 1995, p. 61. Used by Permission.