Once upon a time there was an evil queen who had low self-esteem. She was like many people who have a low opinion of themselves, she overcompensated for it by becoming extremely vain. She even had a magic mirror that told her how beautiful she was. Even if she didn’t like herself for who she was, at least she had a magic mirror that could prop up her faltering ego.
Every day she stood in front of the mirror and said, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” Every day the mirror replied, “You’re the fairest in the land. You’re the one. You are the megababe of all megababes. You look terrific. Your face lift was worth all the money you spent on it. You project an image that is admired and loved by all. You’re the greatest.”
The mirror made the queen very happy. Even if it was just a magic mirror, the queen needed as much help as she could get. Her flagging self-esteem would rekindle itself enough to make it through another day.
Unfortunately, one day the magic mirror said the wrong thing, and her self-esteem crashed and burned. It was not a pretty sight. When the queen asked the mirror who was the fairest in the land, the mirror replied, “Snow White.” The evil queen was devastated to find out someone had displaced her from her number one slot as the fairest in the land. The queen went berserk and immediately started plotting against her new rival. Snow White must go so she could once again be the fairest in the land.
Eliminating Snow White tuned out to be a bigger job than anticipated. In fact, it turned into the queen’s worst nightmare. All of the diabolical drama and intrigue would have been unnecessary if the queen had good self-esteem. If she liked herself, she would not have needed the magic mirror to prop up her weak self-image.
It’s easy to point our finger at the evil queen and see what a fool she was. It’s easy, until we stand in front of our own magic mirror and say, “Mirror mirror on the wall, am I OK after all?”
We look into the mirror of our own self-esteem and quickly discover that we have a lot in common with the evil queen. We need as much help as we can get to prop up our self-image.
It sure makes us feel better when the mirror tells us how great we look.
We look at our bank account, and if it’s overflowing with ready cash, we feel good about ourselves.
We look at our investment portfolio and retirement plan, and our future looks bright. We surely must be doing something right.
We look at the expensive address where we live and know that the rest of the world thinks we have it made on easy street.
We look at our cars and expensive toys, and satisfaction wells up within.
We may not be the fairest in the land, but we have done pretty well for ourselves.
The problem is the mirror on the wall just told you everything that you are not.
All of your real estate, toys, good looks, and retirement plans are part of the problem. They are helping you hide from yourself.
If you listen to the mirror on the wall, you will never have true self-esteem.
Who you are inside is what is important.
If you like who you are, if you have good self-esteem, then everything the mirror tells you doesn’t matter.
Magic mirrors are not to be trusted. If you trust your self-esteem to a magic mirror, you will never find out who you are and never become all that God intends for you to be.
TRUE SELF-ESTEEM COMES FROM GOD
True self-esteem comes from God.
When you stand in front of God’s mirror, you don’t see yourself as you are. You see yourself as God sees you, and you see how good your life can become when you max out on his love. The reflection is that of a child of God free from the mistakes and limitations of the past.
When you look into God’s mirror, you hear these words: “You are my child in whom I am well pleased. I love and accept you the way that you are, but I love you too much to let you stay that way. I love you from the top of your head to the tip of your toes, and it does not get any better than that. There is no limit to how good your life will become when your heart is full of my love. It’s time for you to max out on my love.”
YOU ARE MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD
God created you in his own image, and the fact that you were made in his image is sufficient reason to have excellent self-esteem.
When God finished creating man and surveyed the results, He pronounced his creation good.
He didn’t say the creation was fair, or it was more or less good with only a few exceptions.
He unequivocally, absolutely, and enthusiastically declared that his creation was good.
This applies to you and to everyone else living on planet earth. There are no exceptions.
God’s final act of creation was putting an eternal spirit inside our human body.
God does not have flesh and bones like humans.
God is a Spirit, and the only way we could be made in his image was for God to put an eternal spirit into our body, and that is exactly what He did.
The only part of us resembling God is our spirit. That spirit is who we are and it’s the only part of us that matters. Our spirit is made in God’s image, and it forms the core of our self-esteem.
Our bodies resemble those of chimpanzees, gorillas, crocodiles, and chipmunks. Our eyes tell us that what we see is what we are. Therein lies the problem.
We look at our bodies and our possessions and think they represent who we are, when they actually represent who we are not. We are not our hair, teeth, or toes. We are not our money or our possessions.
People who have a problem with their self-esteem are confused about who they are.
They keep score of how well they are doing using a scorecard that is wrong.
There is no way to look on the outside and tell who you are on the inside.
One reason people lack self-esteem is because they feel that who they are on the outside is more important than who they are on the inside. The have things backwards, and they are wrong.
If you believe that you are your image, your possessions, your curly hair, your bald head, your clothes, or your lifestyle, you are in big trouble. Your self-esteem will take a beating as you experience the ups and downs of living in the twenty-first century.
If your self-esteem rides the roller coaster of an image-oriented lifestyle, you will have a miserable life.
When the stock market goes up, you will feel rich, and your self-esteem will soar like a hawk.
When you lose your job, your self-esteem will crash and burn.
When someone gives you a compliment, your self-esteem will be on top of the world.
If someone criticizes you, your self-esteem will cringe and hide.
Your self-esteem will always suffer until you base it on who you are on the inside. If you base it on what others think about you or how many toys you have accumulated, your self-esteem will auger in.
The fact that God created you in his image is a sure foundation on which to base your self-esteem. But it’s only the foundation. There are other reasons why you should love and accept yourself as you are.
The single most powerful reason is because God loves and accepts you as are.
If it’s good enough for God, it should be good enough for you.
The fact that God loves and accepts you as you are means you don’t have to do anything to be a worthwhile person.
God went ahead and loved you without you doing anything to be worthy of his love.
If you had to be worthy before He gave it, you would be in trouble. It’s doubtful that many people could do anything on their own that would make them worthy of God’s love.
THE SUPERSTRUCTURE OF YOUR SELF-ESTEEM
The fact that God has invested his love in you and has a positive plan for your life, forms the superstructure of your self-esteem.
God loves you so much that He is not going to let you stay the way you are. He is going to show you how to max out on his love and become all that you can be.
God is on your side. He is your advocate, and he will use the power of his love to wash the toxic waste from your mind and heal your damaged emotions.
God has enough power to turn your life around and make you into an entirely new person. Your old life will pass away, and your new life will begin when you open your heart to the Father’s love.
If God turned his back on you and left you totally up to your own devices, then perhaps you would have reason to question your self-worth.
If God gave up on you because your problems were just too big, then maybe your self-esteem should justifiably suffer.
If God’s love was not the most powerful force in the universe, then maybe you would be without hope.
But none of these things are true.
God is your Father, and He will work with you for as long as it takes. Nothing is too hard for God’s love.
God is going to take you from where you are to where He knows that you can be. You have real reason for hope.
God will never give up on you, and you don’t have to go it alone.
God is in it with you for the long haul.
He is on your side, and if you run with him, you will be running in the right direction.
He has a plan and purpose for your life that is better than anything you can imagine.
THE MOST AMAZING REASON FOR SELF-ESTEEM
The final reason for self-esteem is because you have the amazing privilege of calling God your Father.
Jesus said that when you are born spiritually, God becomes your Father.
To dare to call God your Father means you have a personal relationship with the One who created, runs, and sustains the universe. You are on a first name basis with God.
This is not a distant once in a lifetime contact with God. It’s a daily walk with the Father who loves you with an everlasting love. The Father isn’t someone you meet once a year at an intergalactic spiritual retreat or only at the moment of your death. He is there all the time doing what He does best, loving you with an everlasting love, and allowing you to be one of his children.
When you are born spiritually and God becomes your Father, your self-esteem will never again be in question.
You will know who you are and know where you are going. You are a child of God, and you are following his master plan. You are living God’s dream for your life, and you are maxing out on his love.
You don’t need to lead an image-oriented or performance-oriented lifestyle. You only need to accept the facts of life.
You are worthy because God says so. Your self-esteem comes from God, because He loves you as you are.
Take the following message from God and indelibly imprint it in your mind. Listen to what the Father has to say:
“You are my child in whom I am well pleased. I love and accept you the way that you are, but I love you too much to let you stay that way. I love you from the top of your head to the tip of your toes, and it does not get any better than that. There is no limit to how good your life will become when your heart is full of my love. It’s time for you to max out on my love.”
If you want to learn more about how to max out on God's love, you can read Real Power: Maxing Out On God's Love by Dr. Dave.
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