The Sin that got Satan kicked out of Heaven was pride. Pride has been referred to as, "The Mother of All Sins!" Pride often leads us to make arrogant statements and decisions such as:
+ You don't need God, you can be like God.
+ You don't to follow God, you've got your own ideas.
+ You don't need to live for His glory, it's all about you.
Most of us don't even realize we have a problem with pride because Satan is crafty and went into the marketing business. He repackaged pride as self-esteem.
In a global study of teenagers, we find that American teens rack among the lowest in reading, geography, and math. We also find that American teens rack among the highest in self-esteem. We can't read or write, but we're better than you. We don't know where your county is located, but we're better than you. Is this the attitude we desire our children to have?
James 4:6- God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
God can't give grace to the proud because their hands are closed as if to say, "I don't need anything from you. I am completely self-sufficient."
Low Self-Esteem stems from a few general areas:
+ Unstable home situation
+ Verbal and emotional abuse
+ Being bullied and picked on
+ Trying to earn the approval of parents
+ Abandonment
Whatever the cause, low self-esteem is also a sinful point of view. How so?
You're sense of being a good person should not depend on what you have done, how you dress, your body type, what others think or say about you, but rather only on who you are in Jesus. See yourself as Jesus sees you. Psalm 16:2 says, "You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you." You don't need high self-esteem or low self-esteem. You need to find your identity in Christ. Both high and low self-esteem are forms of pride because they seek to find identity in ourselves. We know we are valuable because God tells us so.
Jesus has asked you to always remember to see yourself as He does, not in light of what you have done or what has been done to you, but solely on what He has done for you as your King.
2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "for our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."
What does Jesus say about us?
You are fully known
+ John 1:12- But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.
+Galatians 4:4;5- But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
You are fully loved
+ John 3:16- God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son
+ 1 John 4:16- God is love
You are finally safe
+ Proverbs 29:25- Whoever trust in the Lord is safe
+ 2 Samuel 22:33- This God is my strong refuge
You are finally free
+Psalm 103:12- As far as eat is form the west, so far does He remove our sin from us.
+Romans 8:1- There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus
God's Everlasting Love
[31] What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? [32] He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? [33] Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. [34] Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. [35] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? [36] As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
[37] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. [38] For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 8:31-39 ESV
Doubt - Monster Series from UGBC Media on Vimeo.
-Daniel
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