Truth My Kids Will Know - Believing "In Yourself" Is A Waste Of Faith

 Lie #2 - "Just Believe In Yourself

This generation is being taught to put way too much emphasis on themselves.

Teaching about "self-esteem", "self-worth", and "self-love" is being poured out on our kids like never before. Don't get me wrong: Is it a bad thing for someone to see their own potential, set their own goal, and then believe they can hit that goal? Of course that's not a bad thing! Self-esteem, in and of itself, isn't right or wrong. It really depends on whether that self-esteem is justified or not.

Here's the problem: this generation is being taught that "believing in themselves" is all it takes to succeed. They're constantly being inflated with a sense of self-worth, without the character to prop it up! Think about it, when was the last time you came across a statement like this?

    "Anything is possible if you believe."

    "You're perfect just the way you are."

    "Have faith in yourself, and you can do anything."

What's going to happen to someone who is only taught this, and never taught about the effort and character that's going to be required of them?

Even If You Believe - You Still Can't

I don't mean to be a downer here...but let's be real about this: There are some things that are just not possible for you to do or achieve.

For example; as much as you may believe you can, it is impossible for a human being to run 60 miles per hour.

You'll never be able to fly without a machine holding you up.

You can't just "believe" that you have a million dollars in the bank and then expect to go buy a car. 

And as much as I'd like to be...I won't become a professional athlete just because I "believe in myself."

That's all common sense so far, right?  But here's where it hits home:

You cannot be a good person just because you believe you are.

This idea of "self-goodness" is nothing new, people have always claimed to be good. Proverbs 20:6 tells us, "Most men will proclaim each his own goodness, but who can find a faithful man?" No matter how much they believe otherwise, it's impossible for sinful people to be good in the eyes of God. Romans 3:12 absolutely slams the door on that possibility, "There is none who does good, no, not one."

Jesus encountered people who believed they had "the power to do good" (as I recently heard on a kid's TV program) within them. According to Luke 18:9, these were people "who trusted in themselves that they were righteous..." You know what? Jesus didn't have a lot of good things to say about them...

Why Misplace Your Faith?

Your faith is only as strong as what or who you place it in.

- Faith in a chair is only as strong as that chair is. If it's not strong enough to hold you, then your faith will be shattered!

- Have you ever pushed the brakes while driving, only to have your faith in them shaken when they don't work right? Trust me, that's a scary situation!

- Even faith in your friends is only as good or as strong as they are. Have they ever let you down?

So if all of these things can fail at some point, and your faith in them get broken - then why would faith in yourself be any different?

You will fail at some point. I'd be willing to bet that you already have failed, right?... Repeatedly?... Today? You know your failures better than anyone else. If faith is only as strong as its object - then how strong would faith in yourself be?

You don't need to learn more about you. You already know all about you. Instead of learning more about what you can do, or the difference that you can make, or how important you are - why not look to the ONE that has never failed?

Not only has God never failed as a general rule....but my friend, He's never failed you. Wouldn't it be better to reserve your faith for Him?

When God sees a sinner (that is, anyone who doesn't believe in Him), He does not see perfection! You and I weren't valuable to God before we were saved! We were a worthless mess, like every other person born into sin. We were powerless to do anything good. We were hopeless. We had no future.

We were selfish, sinful people  - completely offensive in the eyes of God.

What made you valuable was the love that God poured out on you while you were still a sinner. He saw that nasty, filthy, disgusting, sinful person...and still chose to love you.

God's love and care for you wasn't deserved, as if you were some priceless jewel...it was intentional. His love was what made you priceless.

God looked at us when we were "un-lovely", and decided to love us unconditionally.

In light of that...He alone deserves our faith.

So whenever you hear a well-intentioned person say, "just believe in yourself"...ask them "Why would I do that?"

In the face of this lie - my kids will know the truth: Believing in yourself is a waste of faith. I will put my faith in the God that made me, knows me, and still loves me unconditionally!

Jesus' words in Mark 11:22 were clear - "Have faith in God."