Self-Esteem?

A friend recommended Susan Hunt's My ABC Bible Verses. I've been reading it with Caleb and would highly recommend it as well. One thing I prize in this book is that each lesson focuses on the work of the Holy Spirit, and any good done by the children characters in the book is attributed to the grace of God, never the child himself. Very God-centered.

We also have a devotional book for children (Blessings Every Day: 365 Simple Devotions for the Very Young) that Andy casually picked up years ago at a book sale at work. I was reading through it with Caleb the other day and came across one devotion (which is representative of the other ones) containing these lines:

But when God looks at you, he sees everything about you, like how friendly or smart or kind you are. Most of all, God sees that wonderful person he made. And that's what he loves most.

And a little saying in the bottom:

God sees inside me, he sees in my heart. To him I am wonderful, lovely, and smart!

I almost choked reading it, though I know I probably would not have seen anything wrong with it years ago. Our exodus from "modern evangelicalism" was God's blessing.

So often in today's evangelical world, we are taught to hold high self-esteem. I was even taught in the first lesson of a discipleship class years ago that it was important for me to have high self-esteem. God was not taken out of the picture. I was to have good self-esteem because God loves me and sent Jesus Christ to die for me. It sounded good to me. And it is true God loves me, but it is not the whole truth! To fail to see and admit the total depravity in us and the wrath of God that we deserve in the first place is nothing near Truth; God's love is cheapened and misconstrued. When God looks in my heart, no, he does not see how lovely and smart I am, but how sinful and foolish. If there is anything good, it is by the grace of God because of the cross of Christ and His righteousness alone.

Andy reminds me often to not tell Caleb that I am proud of him (and to not even think that of him). Let him who boasts boast in the Lord (1 Cor. 1:30-31). May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Gal. 6:14). Anything that Caleb can do well in, we humbly embrace it as by the grace of God. And we tell him the same.

As I learnt from John Piper, it is not self-esteem we need, but Christ-esteem. Pray that not only do I say it but live it as well.