The Economics of Self Worth - Part 2

Psychologists define self-esteem as:

“A person’s overall evaluation or appraisal of her or his own worth”

And self-worth is defined as:

“The quality of being worthy of esteem”

But in a world where absolute truth has become subjective, there’s no longer an anchor upon which to rest our worth or value. Having taken God out of the equation, the vacuum has been filled with numerous philosophies about the nature of Man. On one extreme, there’s what’s popularly known as “secular humanism,” in which Man, as the pinnacle of evolution, has no need of God and determines his own destiny.

The other extreme is what I’ll call secular environmentalism, best expressed by the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement, which describes the human race as “a greedy, amoral parasite on the once-healthy face of this planet,” and that the creator-god “realized his mistake in making humans and was going to flush us from the system, but in a weak moment he spared one breeding family. Oops! (Genesis 6:5-6).” The group advocates “voluntarily refraining from procreation.” Talk about low self-esteem!

In a certain sense, both views are Biblically correct. While the humanists recognize that we are created in the image of God, and the environmentalists recognize that we are a fallen race, neither one has the complete picture. The humanist view could be compared to my Carl Yastrzemski baseball card in my previous post who, unaware that he was only worth $29.95, tried to boost his self-esteem by telling himself he was worth “at least $200.” And the environmentalist view is akin to my Willie Mays card who thought he was worth far less than the $198 he turned out to be. Both views have an inaccurate estimation of our worth.

To get to the truth of the matter, I’m going to suggest that we replace the secular idea of self-esteem and self-worth with the Biblical concept of humility and righteousness.

There are plenty of definitions of humility, but here’s one that I think works:

The attitude of the Christian that suggests one should not “...think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment…” (Rom. 12:3). It is knowing our true position before God. It is not self-abasement or demeaning one’s self.

I like that. So, true humility, the Biblical equivalent of self-esteem, would be “an accurate appraisal of our own worth, based on knowing our true position before God.” Warren Wiersbe writes that “poor in spirit” means:

…to be humble, to have a correct estimate of oneself (Ro 12:3). It does not mean to be “poor spirited” and have no backbone at all! “Poor in spirit” is the opposite of the world’s attitudes of self-praise and self-assertion. It is not a false humility that says, “I am not worth anything, I can’t do anything!” It is honesty with ourselves: we know ourselves, accept ourselves, and try to be ourselves to the glory of God. (Wiersbe, W: Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989. Victor)

But from where or from whom am I to get this correct estimate of myself? If only I, like my baseball cards, could turn to some mystical catalog that tells me: “John, you are valued at $$$.”

Ahh, but there is. That’s where the concept of righteousness enters the equation.

The word righteous is also translated equitable, meaning: “having or exhibiting equity,” and: “characterized by equity.” Righteousness or equity is a thing that we possess as a characteristic or attribute of our new nature (see 2 Cor 5:21, Rom 3:22, Rom 5:19). Notice that at the beginning of this post, I said that psychologists define self-worth as the quality of being worthy. (The words quality, characteristic, and attribute can be used interchangeably.) Here’s how it works: Because of 2 Corinthians 5:21, we have become the righteousness of God; therefore, we are equitable – that is, we have equity (value, worth) and we are “characterized by equity.”

Now that I know this, I can have an “accurate appraisal of my own worth.” I don’t have to lie to myself with positive affirmations, and I don’t need to depreciate myself or believe, like bent-corner Willie, that I’m somehow defective and worth little. I only need to read and believe what my Bible says about me.

Low self-esteem and poor self-worth come from our fallen nature. We feel as though we lack worth because we do! We are worthy or valuable only because God has given us his righteousness.

And that’s how humility and righteousness work together.

Go to Part 3.