The Beauty of Low Self-Esteem
Ronnie Martin at The Gospel Coalition offers a scathing rebuke to our self-love in The Beauty of Low Self-Esteem. 
Here are a few of the powerful quotes.
• None of us has a problem with low self-esteem. Scripture tells us we were born with the opposite issue. We all think of ourselves as a little more pretty, a little more talented, a little more worthy, and a little more deserving of just about everything in this life.
• Far from having naturally broken hearts, our hearts are naturally bloated with the calories of self-consumption and filled with obscene levels of self-obsession. We’ve been taught that there’s nothing more valuable than how much we value ourselves.
• The frightening thing about self esteem is the staggering lengths God goes to completely eradicate it from the depths of our souls, in order to produce depth in our souls.
• If the Lord loves a humble and contrite heart, it means that he equally abhors a prideful and defiant one.
• God takes sometimes horrific, drastic measures to destroy our self-esteem.
• The call to brokenness is a call to openness.
• Brokenness is the gentrification of our hearts.
• The beauty of low self-esteem is that we finally have the hearts to highly esteem God.
Read the entire convicting article here.
I have many issues the gospel coalition’s general repudiation of the science of psychology. But dealing specifically with this article: I won’t argue that pride prevents us from knowing God, but self-esteem is not the same thing as pride. Further, many in our community struggle with low self-esteem. Perspectives like the one presented in this article deny dignity to the struggle of those afflicted with these symptoms.
Mr. Martin does well to encourage Christians to pursue brokenness and contriteness of heart, but his method shows a lack of understanding and compassion for those who have been belittled by their communities and families for being, among other things: too fat, too nerdy, ugly or even stupid. I would encourage such authors to think more critically about their analogies to consider whose experiences they are invalidating.
David,
I appreciate you dropping by to share your perspective. David Murray blogged yesterday to share some similar concerns. You can read his thoughts here: http://headhearthand.org/blog/2012/03/22/is-low-self-esteem-always-beautiful/
I may blog on this myself soon. It is an important issue where I find “truth” on both sides of the perspective. So much is in the definition of terms. The original author’s definition of “self-esteem” = pride, while your definition = unbiblical views of oneself based upon life experiences (I’m paraphrasing). It is as if you are talking about two entirely different issues.
The Bible’s focus is on an accurate sense of self based upon who we are in Christ (Romans 12:3). I often talk about “Christ-esteem” and “Christ-image.” Of course, even those terms have to be defined in context.
I also think we have to be careful in our critiques less we ask a blogger in 1,000 words to say everything possible about every topic. Plus, if we place a boatload of qualifying comments into every post, we end up with a watered-down post that could be more about people-pleasing than anything else.
Just a few thoughts. Perhaps more to come…
Bob