Thought of the Day #23, February 24, 2014: Self Worth vs. Self Expectations

            There are way too many born again Christians that have issues with their self-worth!  It amazes me just how many people go around evaluating their worthiness or lack thereof with other Christians that serve in the “church” (church in general that is).  Why is it that there are so many Christians, including those in ministry, that are constantly feeling that they are not meeting the expectations they have set for themselves?  Why is it that it matters more what self expectations have been met than what God expects?

            That is really the question that needs to be asked, not every now and then but, every single day when we spend time in prayer.  Prayer is essential to any Christian. “You must pray at all times as the Holy Spirit leads you to pray. Pray for the things that are needed. You must watch and keep on praying. Remember to pray for all Christians.” Ephesians 6:18 (NLV)  What we need to be asking God is if we are meeting His expectations.

            Part of the problem is that we are constantly bombarded with ads on television, internet, magazines, billboards, that convinces us that we’re not good enough but, if we use their product we will be good enough!  We then somehow bring these thoughts into our Christian walk.  We place way too much emphasis on trying to be “good enough” that we can’t meet our own expectations.  What is “good enough?”  These expectations aren’t usually attainable but yet we get upset when we do not meet them.  The more our expectations are not met the more our self worth seems to go down. 

            One of the things that I love about Jesus is that He is extremely clear.  One of the things that He is clear on is that He’s first.  All of this self worth business that is based on an over bloated self expectation is just plain foolish.  What we need to be concerned with is if we are meeting God’s expectation of us.  What we are to do first is to love him with everything we have first. “He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Luke 10:27 (NIV)  Notice that the verse ends with “as yourself.” 

            We are to love others as we love ourselves.  All of this self worth business needs to be tied with how much God loves us.  “No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.” John 16:27 (NIV)  “For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ.” John 1:17 (NLT) “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.” Romans 8:38 (NLV)  So, the next time we start to measure our self worth we need to make sure that we measure it by how much God loves us instead of by what self expectations we have or have not met.