Self-Esteem

Something I read this week that pretty much changed my life:

"What false teaching threatens our sincere and pure devotion to Christ?  What do we put up with readily enough?  Perhaps today more than anything else, we allow the purity of the true gospel to be diluted by the false gospel of self-esteem.  Self-esteem sounds good, but it is antithetical to God's gospel.  Christ didn't die to improve our self-esteem; he died to give us his.  He didn't come to build up our self-worth; he came to knock it down.  Jesus said, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me' (Luke 9:24); and Paul wrote, 'Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves' (Phil. 2:3).  We have been deceived by the false teaching of self-esteem because, like most effective deceptions, there is a kernel of truth in it.  We do have intrinsic worth because we are made in the image of God.  But it is his image in us that gives us our value." - Purity by Lydia Brownback

Oh my goodness, WHY HAS NO ONE EVER SAID IT LIKE THIS BEFORE?!  I have no worth on my own, but whatever worth I have is ONLY because I have God.  I think I now understand why dealing with "self-esteem issues" by trying to convince myself that I am just fine the way I am has NEVER WORKED!