Low self-worth is a common topic in counseling. It affects people in a variety of ways. People often react to the feelings of inferiority with anxiety, withdrawal, or depression. Because feelings of low self-worth permeates people’s thought so deeply, they are difficult to challenge.
But addressing these feelings in light of Bible truth is so helpful. This is because the stories of the Bible remind us that it is God who gives us value, not our thoughts or the opinions of others. Our opinion of ourselves go up and down. Others thoughts about us also fluctuate. Worse, we are sinners who are really not that great all the time.
But we do not have to be discouraged about this because perfect Jesus saw our hopeless state and took the punishment for our sins by dying on a cross. Because of His worthiness and goodness, we can come before God. Jesus’ death on the cross gives us the ability to come before God and live in light of the value we were created to have as people made in His image.
For sure, there are often times that personalities, brains chemistry, or life circumstances will cause us to view ourselves in pervasively negative ways that are untruthful. And challenging those thoughts can be very helpful. But ultimately the most freeing answer to debilitating low self-worth so many of us face is in the work of Jesus Christ and the value that He gives us (Romans 5). Romans 5 literally reminds that we can actually boast. Not in anything we’ve done but “in the hope of the glory of God (verse 2).
There is something very freeing to those of us struggling with low self-worth to admit that yes, we are actually not perfect. We can just admit it and stop freaking out about it. But because Jesus loves us and made a way for us to be restored to God, we have value. Not because of us, but because of Him. I love the truth we are reminded of in Philippians 1:6. It says that instead of being confident in ourselves, we are “confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.”
