PONDER HOW THESE THREE MASAI KIDS WOULD COPE WITH LIFE IF THEY WERE BADLY WOUNDED IN THEIR SELF-ESTEEM.
During the early months of President Clinton’s government, an apparently-successful person, Vincent Foster Jr., was appointed to presidential staff.
This was a prestigious position that was pregnant with bright career prospects because it opened lots of opportunities for networking in the government as well as in the private sectors. However, Vincent Foster left his White House office one afternoon and ended his life at a parkway rest stop beside the Potomac River.
President Clinton and his officials were stunned by this most unfortunate suicide of a brilliant professional with a bright future. Why would a man at the peak of his career serving his lifelong friend, Clinton, kill himself without apparent warning?
This tragedy was shrouded in mystery with lots of unanswered questions.
What was going on inside this man that had caused him so much despair and anguish that motivated him to end his life? Why did his close friends fail to detect the signs that caused him so much unbearable inner anguish?
To probe for the real causes of Vincent Foster’s suicide, we have to look beneath the waterline to pursue a reality check. We have to look beyond the typical benchmarks of worldly success to see the inner factors that give a person real peace and happiness.
At the World Psychiatric Congress in Madrid, Spain (1967) attended by more than 4000 psychiatrists and psychologists, the first lecturer, Dr. H.P. Rome pleaded passionately with his audience with these wise words: “Never undermine your patients’ faith. Build on it!”
Another key lecturer, Dr. H W Janz, enlightened us on hope:
“What is hope? It is a phenomenon! Nobody knows what hope is, but we have all seen the miracles that happen in a patient when `somehow hope enters their life.’” The 3rd lecturer was Dr. C A Seguin. He spoke on `Love’. “Nonjudgmental, unconditional love is the most healing force in the world,” he declared. This doctrine of love is the classic doctrine of grace lifted from Christian theology!
“Faith, hope, love” – the gospel of Christ rightly perceived and proclaimed is the healing hope for every person. May we discover its power anew. For the positive gospel is God’s pathway to human dignity.
Obviously, in the tragic case of Vincent Foster, the victim did not pay sufficient attention to the significant issues beneath the waterline. He probably had spent too much time and energy on pursuing the superficial success related to his career and neglected the really vital issues of his soul. Failure to address such important issues over the long term probably eroded his faith, hope and love that ultimately produced a wounded self-esteem. Today, psychologists realize that toxic shame and wounded self-esteem are the bedrocks that produce tremendous anxiety, guilt, helplessness, hopelessness, despair, self-hate and suicidal inclinations.
The single most important question facing the world today is:
What is this creature called the human being?
The eminent author of the book , `Self-Esteem’, Dr. Robert, H. Schuller, shares his valuable insight with us, “The `will to self-love’ is the deepest of all human desires. Because the human being is created in the image of God, the will to dignity is the irreducible, psychological, and spiritual nucleus around which the life of the human soul revolves and evolves. The need for dignity, self-worth, self-respect, and self-esteem is the deepest of all human needs. If our need for dignity is assaulted or ignored by the church, then truly we are `lost sinners’…The need for dignity, self-worth, self-respect, and self-esteem is the deepest of all human needs.
If our need for dignity is assaulted or ignored by the church, then truly we are `lost sinners.’ Unsaved and unfulfilled, we will be naturally led down a destructive road of ego-tripping… An immense, complex tangle of negative emotions will be woven around our poor lost souls.”
According to Gordon MacDonald, writer of `The Life God Blesses’, the spiritual masters are attracted to the exploration of the inner regions of the person. He believes that there is an infinity of sorts within every human being. The spiritual masters, from time immemorial, have believed that this below-the-waterline portion of human life is tragically neglected. The gurus remind their followers that beneath the waterline is the place where one can find and nurture a wholesome and satisfying relationship with God. This is the sacred place where a healthy integration of all the personal systems of life might take place. This is the holy spot that has been described by the spiritual masters as `the still point’ or an `inner garden.’
Food For Thought
According to Dr. Robert H. Schuller, “Every psychiatrist, psychologist, sociologist, or counselor dealing in one of the healing professions that tackles the emotional problems of humanity knows that the deepest and deadliest of human emotions are anxiety, guilt, fear, and resentment. Trying to heal anybody of those negative emotions is futile until a person has developed a basic, positive self-image. And because self-esteem is foundational, inferiority complexes are the first problems that have to be corrected.”
No one understood the inner depths of a person better than Jesus Christ.
Jesus seems to specialize on the topic of wounded people or sinners with wounded self-esteem.
How can you possibly approach a person who feels inferior and unworthy with an invitation to believe in a holy God who hates sin and wants to punish the sinner? The answer? By introducing inferiority-plagued persons to a wonderful God-man Jesus Christ who specializes in loving sinners…It is then that Jesus says, “Father, here’s my new friend,” and the Father says, “I love her. I love him. Come join my family.” When that happens, we know that we are forgiven- we are treated like a perfect person even though we are not…We are accepted as members of God’s family. This is the secret of God’s unconditional love because Christ loves us as we are- our goodness blended with lots of badness.
Jesus never called a person a sinner. He vented his sternest rebuke upon whom? The harlot? No. Jesus told her, “Your sins are forgiven, go and sin no more…” Then who were the objects of Christ’s righteous rebukes? And why? They were the well-esteemed, well-established, leaders and lords of the religious institutions of their day. Why them?
What did they do that was so evil? Robert H. Schuller continues to enlighten us that “Nothing more evil than the evil that parades under the banner of goodness: “The Devil comes as an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14). Claiming to represent God with the self-anointed authority to speak the Word of God, these Pharisees and members of the religious courts established a set of regulations that were impossible to fulfill and were certain to generate continual guilt. The fear of punishment, the fear of divine rejection, the false sense of guilt, the lack of self-worth, were all propagated in the name of religion.”
An awakened awareness of the real sources of our shame and wounded self esteem is essential to bring about some realistic positive responses to cope with wounded self-esteem and toxic shame.
Submitted by David YKK
