I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13 (NKJV)
When you have poor self-esteem, it causes your faith in God to weaken. It also causes you to have a negative view of the world in general.
People who have a negative view of themselves struggle in their faith life. Even if they come to believe that God is awesome, they don’t believe they are. They often question why an awesome God would want to do anything great in their life.
In Numbers 13:29–33, the Israelites sent twelve spies into the Promised Land to check it out. Ten of the twelve returned but had poor self-esteem; they saw themselves as grasshoppers. Even though you could argue that this self-image was not their fault and it was likely the result of the hundreds of years their nation spent in slavery, God still couldn’t take them into their Promised Land in that state of mind. Only Joshua and Caleb saw themselves favourably, believing that they were capable of doing anything that God said they could do.
As a result, only Joshua and Caleb survived to see the Promised Land. They spent the next 40 years retraining a new generation to rid itself of the slave mentality. They learned to trust in God and develop a healthy self-esteem that stems from His ability, not theirs.
How do you feel about yourself? Do you believe that you can do anything God asks you to do? Learn to get your self-esteem from God. As Joshua and Caleb learned, what matters most is what you believe God can do in and through you. Focus on that and you will develop a great, God-inspired sense of self-esteem.