Robert S McGee in his book The Search For Significance: Seeing Your True Worth Through God’s Eyes reveals how to address emotional struggles associated with one’s self-worth.  He describes a challenge many of us face that he calls Satan’s lie.  Satan’s lie is the belief that your self-worth is based upon your performance and your ability to please others:

MY SELF-WORTH = MY PERFORMANCE + OTHERS’ OPINIONS

Believing this lie leads you to a performance based acceptance mentality.  Satan wants to blind you to the fact that your self-worth is ultimately an identity issue – it is not a performance issue.  This is the marvel of God’s grace.  God accepts you not on the basis of your performance but by Jesus’ finished work on the cross.  The Apostle Paul makes it clear that you are justified not by your works but by believing in what Jesus has already done,

“nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.”  (Galatians 2:16)

Are you falling prey to Satan’s lie?  Rather, believe the truth of God’s word, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

Dr. Rick Higgins
Professor of Discipleship, Columbia International University