Jesus Christ is my God!
Issued 15.11.1998
Self-esteem and conscience
It is not possible to have a good self-esteem without a good conscience. If you know yourself as a sinner, you cannot have a good self-esteem. If you know yourself as a child of God, you really have a good self-esteem.
Good self-esteem or good conscience
Nowadays it is discussed so much about good self-esteem that good conscience is almost forgotten. Self-esteem is your heart's testimony of your personal features. Conscience is your heart's testimony of matters that are right and that are wrong.
If you have done wrong, your conscience judges you. Then also your self-esteem gets a hit. Am I this kind of person?
Although there is not the word self-esteem in the Bible, the concept is there. As a man I am either an old creation or a new one. In Adam I am a sinner and evil. It is described in the following way: "I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature." Rom.7:18 In Jesus I have a new nature that is good. It is described in the following way: "For in my inner being I delight in God's law." Rom.7:22 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 2Cor.5:17
To experience God's grace in Jesus Christ gives ability to inspect the one's own evilness without a fear of a punishment. Thus there is no need for a believer to build a false self-esteem for a hiding place. He can with pleasure agree with God's opinions about matters that are right and wrong. A believer doesn't hesitate to confess being guilty, because he knows that Jesus is able to take the guilt away.
Nowadays it is discussed so much about good self-esteem that good conscience is almost forgotten. Self-esteem is your heart's testimony of your personal features. Conscience is your heart's testimony of matters that are right and that are wrong.
If you have done wrong, your conscience judges you. Then also your self-esteem gets a hit. Am I this kind of person?
Although there is not the word self-esteem in the Bible, the concept is there. As a man I am either an old creation or a new one. In Adam I am a sinner and evil. It is described in the following way: "I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature." Rom.7:18 In Jesus I have a new nature that is good. It is described in the following way: "For in my inner being I delight in God's law." Rom.7:22 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 2Cor.5:17
To experience God's grace in Jesus Christ gives ability to inspect the one's own evilness without a fear of a punishment. Thus there is no need for a believer to build a false self-esteem for a hiding place. He can with pleasure agree with God's opinions about matters that are right and wrong. A believer doesn't hesitate to confess being guilty, because he knows that Jesus is able to take the guilt away.
Jesus gives a good self-esteem
The forgiveness of sins takes care of conscience, but the position as a child of God gives good self-esteem. "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children." Rom.8:16 On the other hand I am a sinner that cannot commit anything but sin and on the other hand I am God's child who never commits a sin. I can carry out myself as a sinner or as a child of God.
Every believer is striving at just this point to know oneself as a child of God and not as a sinner. It is my every day battle that the new creation in me would live and get power to follow Jesus and the old one would be dead and get no power to commit a sin.
The good self-esteem of a believer comes from a good conscience receiving from the Holy Spirit the testimony that you have been accepted. "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect." 1Cor.15.10 How much greater it is to be a child of God than only a sinner who has received mercy! On the other hand no one can become a child of God, if one's conscience is not at first cleaned with the blood of Jesus.
The forgiveness of sins takes care of conscience, but the position as a child of God gives good self-esteem. "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children." Rom.8:16 On the other hand I am a sinner that cannot commit anything but sin and on the other hand I am God's child who never commits a sin. I can carry out myself as a sinner or as a child of God.
Every believer is striving at just this point to know oneself as a child of God and not as a sinner. It is my every day battle that the new creation in me would live and get power to follow Jesus and the old one would be dead and get no power to commit a sin.
The good self-esteem of a believer comes from a good conscience receiving from the Holy Spirit the testimony that you have been accepted. "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect." 1Cor.15.10 How much greater it is to be a child of God than only a sinner who has received mercy! On the other hand no one can become a child of God, if one's conscience is not at first cleaned with the blood of Jesus.
The Bible version used in references is NIV