Don't Look Down on Yourself but Look Up to Christ

2 Corinthians 3:3-5
³ Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
⁴ And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:
⁵ Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;

In today's culture of self-worship, so much emphasis is put on having a healthy and positive self-esteem. The fruit of this emphasis is people who either are arrogant and self-centered or people who are depressed and downcast. Both extremes are the results of looking to self for satisfaction and sufficiency.

I believe that it is important to be confidant, secure in who you are, and demonstrate a healthy confidence in how God has made you. But I don't believe that focusing on "self-esteem" is the answer for the child of God. We have something better than "self-esteem" and it's "highly esteeming Christ." When we look to Christ, we gain an authentic security and satisfaction in who we are. In 2 Corinthians chapter three, Paul is focusing on the difference between the Old Covenant of the Law of Moses and the New Covenant in Christ Jesus. In this New Covenant, he says that we "are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God." This is a powerful statement that hits the "self-esteem" mentality straight between the eyes! We are not to think anything of ourselves! Now does this mean we are to look down on ourselves, beat ourselves up, and walk around with a sense of false humility of how horrible we are? Absolutely not! The key is in finding your sufficiency in who you are in Christ. The more you look on Christ, the more confident and secure you become!

In the Old Covenant, the burden of performance was upon the people. If God's people performed adequately by obeying God and being holy, then they were eligible for God's blessings. In other words, they learned to become "self-sufficient." Religion thrives on self-sufficiency. Now this will make you either boastful or beat-down. Boastful if you perform well; beat down if you perform inadequately. But in the New Covenant, our sufficiency is not in ourselves. Our sufficiency is in what Christ has done---- not in what we have or haven't done.

This truth is so powerful it will change your life for the better! Down look down on yourself but look up to Christ. He has the perfect pedigree, the perfect performance, and the perfect position! Find yourself in Him and all will be well!

Thought for the Day

When you look to yourself, you will always find an imperfection. But when you look to Christ, you will find yourself in his perfection.