Esteemed

This is another one of those words that I need to make bad to see the good... bare with me if you don't understand my meaning. Maybe, I can get the point across.

Mostly, when I think of the word esteem it is in context with a persons self worth. The way they feel about themselves. If you are reading this and you know me personally, you know I struggle with self-worth most of the time. I have a low self image and berate myself a lot. I have gotten better about it, I think, well I don't do it out loud as much, maybe! It is unfortunate that I (we) do that to myself (ourselves), in my case it is learned and hard to unlearn....

Let's move on... in the Bible there were groups of people who walked around like they owned Jerusalem. They were the Pharisees and the Sadducee. And in a way they had a "right" to be highly esteemed. They were the teachers, the doctors, the lawyers, and the politicians of that time in Israel. They had memorize the Bible (the Torah), they kept all the laws, they prayed and gave to the temple like they were supposed to, and they made sure everyone knew it. So why did Jesus have a problem with them?

In Matthew 23, Jesus has basically had enough of the way these groups were acting. They were not seeing Him for who He was, they were trying to get rid of Him, and they were trying their best to get Jesus' followers to stop following Him. Yet, in His love for them, Jesus told them what would happen if they did not listen, if they continued on this path. He is not angry at them in the sense that we would be angry at someone for being prideful and arrogant, esteeming themselves higher than they should. He wants them to turn from the path they are on and realize what they are doing. His love for them is immense, He wants them to believe Him. So, Jesus tells them just who they are and what will happen if they don't stop living, acting, like they are.

 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." Matthew 23:25-28

The Pharisees and Sadducee looked really good on the outside. They dressed in the finest clothes, they kept the laws, the lived life in high esteem, yet on the inside Jesus told them they were filthy and dirty, full of dead men's bones. That they were hypocrites of the worst kind, because they knew they were hypocrites and didn't care. They had esteemed themselves higher than they should and Jesus was putting them in their place. So, in this case esteem, is bad or not useful for anyone. Jesus knew if they didn't clean the inside up, the outside would never be as good as it could be.

So when is esteem good, humans seem to mess it up one way or another... either we are down on ourselves and have low self-esteem (like me) or we are cocky and better than everyone else.... Where is the happy medium? Here is my idea...

When we learn to do what Jesus says and to take Him at His word then we will have the esteem we deserve. In Matthew 22, Jesus had been answering the questions of the Pharisees and Sadducee, and one question was "which was the greatest commandment?". To the Pharisees this was a question that was meant to trip Jesus up, to get Him to speak heresies. He knew this and gave a very simple answer...

But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:34-40

Here is my idea.... If I love the Lord with all my heart, soul, and mind, and then use that love to love others, all the while giving God the glory for it all, then I will have the esteem from and be esteemed by the only one who really matters.... God! My self-worth should come from the fact that I am a child of God! My self-worth should not be determine by how I look, or how others see me. Unfortunately, it is hard to not let other humans give us our worth. I can say, all the time, sure I am ok, my esteem is good... but I know deep inside I am letting "others" steal my self-worth, and not allowing God to proclaim my worthiness to be called His child. God doesn't make junk, so why so I act like I am??? My silly human nature... but I also don't want to go the other direction and think that because I am God's child, I am all that and a bag of chips (sorry, couldn't help myself)! There has to be a place in the middle where I feel good about myself but not so good that I am conceited!

Think about this....

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Philippians 2:3

Thanks for reading. If you like what you read here in these blog post, please give God the glory.... I could not do this without His love and guidance. I hope that I am telling it like He wants it told. God Bless You All!