This will be a four part series on the gospel and self-esteem, responding to common claims made about Christian self-esteem. The parts have all been written but are too long for one post so I’ll post one part a day for four days. The parts are:

Dangerous Claims
The Danger in Modern Thinking
Love for the Unlovable
Responding to the Love of God

Part 1: Dangerous Claims

What does God have to say about our self-esteem or our self-worth? It is not unusual today to hear that God has quite a bit to say. The idea seems to be that because God declares his love for us and refers to his children as his treasured possession we ought to think of ourselves in exalted terms. In other words, if God loves me, doesn’t that mean I must be something special? If God sees me as lovable, shouldn’t I see myself as lovable?

The end result is an emphasis on self. All of God’s actions are interpreted in terms of their effects on my psychological state. “God loves me, I must be lovable. God died for me, I must be worth dying for. God chose to use me in his work, I must be competent to carry out that work.” This leaves us with a gospel that performs a therapeutic function, making man feel better about himself.

This also leaves us with a decline in teaching or language that goes against the gospel of self-esteem. Some things are still called sin. Most evangelicals will say abortion and homosexuality are sins. But the wrongdoing I commit is not said to be sin – “It is a mistake, a goof, a character flaw, a rough spot. I make mistakes, you make mistakes, but God loves us so don’t worry so much about those mistakes.”

The problem is, none of these claims of self-affirmation can be found in Scripture. Like many distorted teachings, there are elements of truth, but the overall teaching is wrong, deceptive, and dangerous.

Tomorrow, what makes the claims of the gospel of self-esteem wrong, deceptive, and dangerous?