“And fathers, provoke not your children to wrath; but bring them up in the nurture and abomination of the Lord.” Eph. 6:4
Today’s Christian Daily Devotional
I know a man that has done everything he could (unknowingly) to destroy his little girl’s self esteem. Every chance he got, he would remind her of how she was just not “smart enough”, just not “pretty enough” and basically, just not worthy to do anything but set the table and (maybe) birth children.
This was sad for me to watch because this woman is one of the most kind-hearted, generous, self-less people I know. All of these wonderful qualities are just a tiny facet of her beautiful nature, yet when she looks in the mirror, all she sees is: FAILURE.
She has never been able to see past the years of hurtful comments and disrespectful behavior. This man had the responsibility as a parent, to build his little girl up, to encourage and nurture her talents and dreams, to be a support and show love at home when the world was a place to be sheltered from. Unfortunately, this man did not understand the treasue that was his to protect.
In the end, the lies this man spoke over this little girl have become the very ideas that she has built her self-worth upon. Today, this woman’s destorted self-worth is based on a lie; but that does not matter. Why? Because she actually believes the lie.
What do you believe about yourself? What do you see when you look in the mirror? The word of God is called “The Truth”. It has been compared to a mirror, that shows each person what they really look like in God’s eyes. Have you been looking into the Bible to build your self-worth, or have you been “buying” a lie, hook, line and sinker? Life is short. Don’t waste your time on lies. Look for the truth, and when you find it, it WILL set you free.
“Dear Heavenly Father,
I thank you for sending me your word. Help me to find exactly what it is you want me to know about myself. I don’t want to build my self-worth on something that is untrue. People say that Jesus loves them, and when they do it sounds like a joke to me. Maybe that is because I have never been truly loved a day in my life. Perhaps it is something I am not recognizing, because it is unfamiliar to me. At any rate, I am tired of hating myself, tired of feeling bad about who I am. I am unsure of what to believe anymore. But, I want to know the truth. I want to be set free. In Jesus’ name, show me how much you love me and what you have to say about me, Amen.”