The hard thing about the truth is that it offends every kind of error.
Some people in some places at some times blame Christianity for having a low view of humankind. Some people in some places at some times have attacked us for being too optimistic about human redemption.*
If you think you are the “worst,” then you need God. If you think you are the “best,” then you need God.
Normal people know that they have some good traits and some personality features that are, simply, bugs. The man who gives to the poor, but has a short temper with his staff should have a mixed view of himself. If you plan a wonderful party, you can ruin hundreds of hours of good planning decisions by becoming fixated on politics all dinner. I know.
Sorry, darling.
This is a truth that Christianity affirms: humankind is not what it ought to be. We can be more than we are.
At the same time, if you want to hate people or (more conveniently) yourself, then Christianity is not the religion for you. We are called to love our enemies, even ourselves. We might let us down, but we cannot hate. Why? First, God made us. We are special. Second, the image of God in us does many good things, has great potential, and reflects the common grace that everyone has from God. Finally, forgiveness and love are so freely available that they must be the focus.
My sin, failings, and shortcomings? They are real, but the love of God is greater! God can restore.
Christianity teaches that if you are human, then you are created in God’s image. Steve Bannon is a walking image of God, but then so is Michael Moore. We are remarkable, even at our worst. Humankind creates, destroys, considers, reasons, and dreams. We are not what we should be, but we are not without value in the eyes of God. We are precious to God, but we cannot pretend that we are fit for paradise just as we are.
We all know both are true: missing the mark and the glory is being a human. No man is beyond redemption. No person is beyond failure. Only a fool doubts both truths, because we experience ecstasy and sorrow. We choose well and badly.
False self-esteem seeks to minimize the gap between what we should be and could be and what we have become. False condemnation encourages us to maximize the gap and ignore the bridge crossing that gap. When we look to Jesus, we do not lose ourselves, but find ourselves. We do not spiral into self-hatred, but learn love for everyone, including self.
We are made content that what is will become what must be!
“My sin? Oh the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin not in part, but the whole is nailed to the Cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord! It is well with my soul.”
———————-
*The tradition of curmudgeons and misanthropes is long, illustrious, and wrong, if often amusing. A philosophical example would be forms of neo-Platonism (but not Platonism!) that attack Christians for having too optimistic a view about the material world.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In