Self-Respect
· Where it does not
come from
o Does not come from what others tell you to think
about yourself
o Doesn't come from a need for
"self-expression."
o Doesn't come from drawing attention to ourselves
o Doesn't come from a false sense of "feeling
good" about oueselves
· Comes from the acknowledgement we are made in the
image of God
o Allows us to live lives of sanity. Means you are living in accordance with God's
law, just as we do with the laws of physics
§ This means we take our ourselves seriously as a
people with freedom and responsibility and not just as mere animals driven by
instinct and the desire for pleasure
§ When we don't seriously accept ourselves as people
with freedom and responsibility, and do what we shouldn't, we damage ourselves interiorly just that
little bit, and those little bits add up over time and that damages our
self-respect. (used lying as an example)
o Self respect is the basis for our happiness and
participation in the world
o If we don't have self-respect it will show in our in
our attitudes, our appearance, and our dealings with others
§ We don't think we can contribute to group activities
such as music, sports or theater
§ We begin to think we are not worthy of being loved
and then we can't develop true friendships
§ Then our self-esteem suffers, and we begin to look
to gain self esteem in the wrong ways and from the wrong places I mentioned at
the beginning
o We must show respect for ourselves because of God's
respect and love for us.
§ God gave us free will. We can always choose to do right, but we can
choose to do wrong and often do. It's called sin.
§ And
likewise, we can choose to respect
and love ourselves.
o God's love for us is a reality even though we might
not always feel it. Don't be
fooled! Nothing we do can make God quit
loving us. Of course we can do things that cause us not to love God. But God is always faithful.
o John 3:16 " “For God so
loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should
not perish but have eternal life."
· Christ
did not come into this world for the fun of it.
He became human to show God's love for us and to die on our behalf for
us out of a sacrificial love that has its perfection only in God.
o
God's
Everlasting Love - Romans 8:31-39
·
31 What then shall we say to these things?
If God is for us, who can be against us?
·
32 He who did not spare his own Son but
gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all
things?
·
33 Who shall bring any charge against God's
elect? It is God who justifies.
·
34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the
one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God,
who indeed is interceding for us.
·
35 Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness,
or danger, or sword?
·
36 As it is written,
·
“For your
sake we are being killed all the day long;
·
we are
regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
·
37 No, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him who loved us.
·
38 For I am sure that neither death nor
life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
·
39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else
in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ
Jesus our Lord.
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