We hear a lot about self-esteem, and virtually just about everyone of us has established a self-image based on our environmental factors, our socialization from our families and general comparisons we tend to make when looking at others. Can self-esteem affect one's christianity? Absolutely! It is absolutely true that the way you feel about yourself, the way you compare yourself to others, and the attention that you address regarding the way you look affect dramatically the way you feel and act. The Spirit described Jesus Christ in Isaiah 53 as one who was a tender root out of dry ground . . . who had no form or comeliness, or he had no beauty that anyone should desire him. Isaiah also said that he was despised and rejected of men; he was a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief; and we hid as though it were our faces from him. I am convinced that this narrative indicates that Jesus was not your most attractive person. He would not have won beauty contests, or been voted a heartthrob based on his appearance. Certainly, he was a heartthrob in many ways as he began to propagate the Word and the Kingdom of God, and the salvation and authority that he spoke with, which was tremendous. Men were drawn to him by his personal charisma, by his ability to say things that would not be spoken by ordinary men, and by the general mystery that surrounded him as a person. As far as the way he looked, he did not look all that great! He had long hair no doubt because he was a Nazarene so never cut his hair. I know that as Christians, there are times that we are affected by the way we look. Sometimes we don't want to come to services because we have a bad blemish on our face, or because ladies are having a bad hair day, or men's faces aren't shaved, etc. Sometimes children have refused to come to church because proper clothes are not available to wear to dress as fine as others.
Another way we are affected by our self-esteem when it comes to Christianity is our tendency to worry a great deal about what people say and think about us. Sometimes this will cause us not to become good personal workers. We will not approach people because we are not feeling good about ourselves. It hurts the way we think and the way we appropriate our ability to communicate with other people when we don't feel good about ourselves and our abilities. We see portraits of women like Leah, Rachel's sister, who was said to be tender-eyed or homely, and as a result was not the choice to be a bride. Most of us are appearance conscience, and we are concerned about how we look to ourselves and to others. Is that wrong in and of itself? No! In fact, if you don't care about how you look, the opposite will occur. You will probably be useless because people who don't care much about themselves don't care much about others either. There should be a fine line and a middle line there: we should feel good about ourselves, but it should not be based on the outward appearance or the judgments of others. It must be an internal beauty that is derived from the reality that God created us all as we are, and that he loves us just like we are, and not to look beautiful is to look like Jesus. God will judge us by our hearts and not by our outward appearance. It is comforting to know that you cannot look as good as someone else, and still be good in the sight of God . . . still be holy and still be righteous . . . and still save many souls and be a great candidate for heaven.
Let us remember we should not allow our self-esteem to become so low that we don't appreciate the fact that God loves us and made us, and that he accepts us just as we are. Let no other standard judge you, not even your own. Serve God, trust him, keep a smile on your face. People primarily judge you by your personality, and once they see it for the first time, they may judge your outward appearance. If they get to know you and see the beauty within, your outward appearance will improve and you will be attractive in the eyes of others. You will always be attractive in the eyes of God. Lets be great soldiers of the cross, workers for Christ Jesus, be faithful and lead others to Christ, and not worry about our self-esteem. May God bless you.