Every once in awhile my boss will ask me to read articles or books to get my point of view on them. Yesterday, he asked me to read John Rosemond's latest article in The State about self-esteem (http://www.thestate.com/2012/03/25/2207593/john-rosemond-high-self-esteem.html)
I thought he spoke a lot of truth! This day in age, self-esteem is rooted in praise, I feel good about myself, only if I am rewarded/someone notices what I did. That just makes me sad! Self-esteem should be rooted in who you are as a person, not in what you do. We definitely don't help children make this shift in thinking when we allow everyone to make the team, or when everyone gets a trophy in school. That isn't life, and when we play it safe by making everything equal, we only hinder kids by hiding the truth.
It also made me wonder if praise based self-esteem hinders their relationship with Christ. We don't get audible praise from God, we don't always get rewarded right away, we definitely aren't all treated equally. What he has in store for me, is not the same that he has for my friend. If we lead kids into believing that everyone is right and if they are praised all the time, what are we showing them with a relationship with Christ? We are setting them up for failure because we don't always get what we think we "deserve". We also run the risk of turning a "faith-based" Christianity into a "works-based" Christianity. They don't get immediate praise from God, or an instant reward, so they work harder, spend more time with God, pray more, all to get what they think they deserve.
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