From Experience = Living And Coping With Injustice And Hurt - (Fourth And Last Part) – Guidelines And Conclusion – (The Retribution Of God – Part 9 In The Series) Series

FROM EXPERIENCE = LIVING AND COPING WITH INJUSTICE AND HURT - (FOURTH and LAST PART) – GUIDELINES AND CONCLUSION – (THE RETRIBUTION OF GOD – PART 9 IN THE SERIES)

[10]. WATCH YOUR SELF ESTEEM

The bible warns us not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to, but we must not allow ourselves to degenerate to the other extreme. You must not think of yourself cheaply or badly, or vex yourself with guilt complexes because of some terrible incident that might have come upon you. Your self esteem is important but only think of yourself as God thinks of you. The bible does teach about putting other believers first and esteeming your fellow Christian as more important than you. The concept is, “more important than you”, not yourself as of “no importance”.

Today’s approach to self esteem is that the most important person in the world is “you”, and you are the centre of your universe. That selfish position and condition is not Christian and has developed through the accumulated writings of humanist psychologists and rationalists. Why, we even have the “ME” generation today. It is all about ME. I am the ONE who counts. All the rest is subservient. There is nothing more selfish than that but the education system these days, based on socialism and humanism, promotes individuality at the expense of the needs of others. I always default to the fact that God will have a day of judgement at the great white throne, and when the lost stand there to get their rewards, that reward will be sorrow eternally, and just one thing! It will be individual. Those who lived individually for themselves will have eternity to indulge in that individuality but it will not be pleasant one little bit. If only those Christ-rejecters would turn from their sin and be saved.

As a Christian you do count in God’s sight as one very precious to Him, and your value in His eyes is, in a sense, the value of the Son of God, for you are in Christ and now possess His righteousness. When under attack, or you have become the victim of injustice or suffering because of wrong done against you, you need to be positive in Christ, and not allow the evil one to bring about depression or make you doubt your own self worth. The matters of depression, and understanding self worth from the Christian viewpoint, are big areas, and it is not my purpose to open up the subject much more at this stage. Many beneficial books have been written by competent Christian men to cover these areas.

I would suggest one approach that could be helpful though. When you feel down because of the way the world has treated you, or has wrongly misjudged you or because of the terrible wrongs levelled against you wherein you could not defend yourself, trying this may help.

Open at a book of the New Testament, perhaps Ephesians or Philippians and carefully read it verse by verse. As you discover them, write down all the blessings that pertain to the child of God. Make a list of them, things such as, “I am redeemed through Christ,” or “I am blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places,” etc. Compile the list then set your mind to absorb the truth of each blessing. Progressively thank God for what He has made you, for what you mean to Him, because it is what you are before Christ which counts, not how the unredeemed world evaluates you. That exercise is similar to meditating on the word of God.

{{Psalm 119:23 “Even though princes sit and talk against me, YOUR SERVANT MEDITATES ON YOUR STATUTES.” Psalm 119:27-28 “Make me understand the way of Your precepts so I WILL MEDITATE ON YOUR WONDERS. My soul weeps because of grief. Strengthen me according to Your word.”}}

And remember again, develop and strengthen your Christian fellowship, for the encouragement and consolation of other Christians is YOUR strength in times of deep crisis.

Because so many emotions are brought into play in times of severe crisis or when injustice has touched you, you may be aware of strong mood fluctuations. This is common and results partly from the stress you are under. Hurt, tiredness, apprehension, certain physical ailments, grief, and many others all play a part in your disposition. Remember that those things may affect you. Pray for the Lord’s grace to overcome in all adversity. How much we need to apprehend the presence of God with us at those times. Temptations will come and at times the mind takes over and you may find yourself working out some fantasy of revenge. It is then that you must commit the matter to the Lord and keep recalling in your mind constantly, “Vengeance is Mine....” Know that the Lord will repay. Not you!