by: Cris Corzine-McCloskey
Working as a counselor I have seen that some problems are universal, such as struggles with our self-worth. For women, we are prone to measure ourselves against images created by media. For men, it is often how good their job is, or how much they earn. And both genders are prone towards measuring themselves by their performance. Where did these ideas come from?
We need look no further than Genesis to see that twisted ideas of worth came straight from the fall. Pre-fall Adam and Eve walked around naked in a Garden and they were content and unashamed (Gen 2:25). By today’s standards they would be considered homeless and pitiful, but they found their worth and value in their relationship with their Creator, and that was enough for them. Then they ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Notice that the Tree was based on comparisons. Good versus bad. God did not want them to have this type of measuring stick, as He said it would lead to their destruction (Gen 2:17). What’s the first thing that happened when they ate of the comparison tree? They suddenly felt ashamed of their naked bodies (Gen 3:7). Ladies, tell me this is not something we still struggle with. Prior to the fall they were confident, because they were living in the way God saw them. He called them good, very good, in fact (Gen 1:31). Clearly, from their unclothed, unashamed nature they believed Him.
I think one of the major things we lost at the fall was basing our identity on what God thought we were worth, and instead we developed ‘self-worth.’ Self-worth is a way we view ourselves based on what the world tells us. Do I make as much as my neighbor, do I drive a better car, did I get picked last in school, do I look like the person on the screen, etc. This is a problem, as even the healthiest self-worth is still based on self and our experiences in the world.
Just like God questioned Adam and Eve with “Who told you that you were naked (Gen 3:11),” I can almost hear him asking the teen girls who are starving themselves or the aging wives whose bodies have produced life, and have the battle scars to prove it, “Who told you that you are not beautiful?!” The same line of questioning to the kids who are bullied at school by the ‘popular’ kids or men who feel they do not have enough work prestige, “Who told you that you are not good enough?!” The serpent told us, or maybe the world, then ourselves after buying in to their idea of what we should be like. It’s all hogwash, and based on comparisons that your Creator would never make. Quit comparing yourself to others. God says you are a one of a kind masterpiece, fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14)! Believe it and live unashamed.
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