People today talk in terms of self-esteem and about how we should always feel good about ourselves. But does that really help? Does it really work? To foster this thinking and help children cope with others in school there is a large push to make everyone a winner. Everyone receives a prize no matter how well they did or how successful they were. All such attitudes and actions deny reality. We are not all equal. We are not living in a fair world. And to advise children and others falsely hides the reality of our fallen world and it does not prepare them to live with true understanding or equip them to endure. It is not always winning or having more than someone else that matters. It is a terrible thing to live with false hope or no hope by teaching children to have their focus on the wrong things. Did you know that the highest annual suicide rate (15.66 in every 100,000 population) is in America. By comparison, the world rate is 9.16 in every 100,000 population.

When I was attending school, even before the attitudes of self-esteem were promoted, there was enormous self-induced peer pressure. However, if God is not in our thinking it is natural to attach our personal sense of well-being according to what others think. We want to fit in or be popular. We think that is the answer to happiness. I am reminded of Psalm 73, where through Asaph, God reveals what to do about this kind of wrong thinking. Asaph, the inspired writer, said that his feet came close to stumbling. He was so troubled by others around him that it harmed his daily activities and well-being. He was saying this as a person who was taught to follow God, but he, instead, took his eyes away from God and began paying too much attention to others. In this state of focusing on others, paraphrasing what the Psalm says, he became envious particularly of the arrogant and the wicked. Why was he envious? He goes on to describe how his wrong focus controlled his mind. His evaluation concluded that the wicked appear to have freedom from constraints. They are not worried about anything, not even death. They have the best of everything and see everything as something for them. They are prideful and have no concern for accountability. The burdens of life just seem to never come their way, or when they do, they seem not to be troubled by them. In this state of mind, he looked at others with envy for their perceived happiness, and particularly those who paid no regard to God. He was so troubled that he expressed that his heart was embittered and that he was pierced from within.

What is the remedy for this kind of thinking? Asaph tells us, “Until I came into the sanctuary of God” (Ps. 73:17). In that era, the sanctuary by design and purpose held in every article and ordinance a picture pointing to man’s condition in sin and God’s remedy in the coming Messiah. Today it would be commensurate with searching the pages of Scripture. God then gave Asaph understanding about the ungodly who appeared to be winning in life. He stated, “Surely You set them in slippery places, You cast them down to destruction” (Ps. 73:18). He began to contemplate that this world is temporary. With his newfound wisdom from God he goes further and says, “Whom have I in heaven but You, and besides You I desire nothing on earth” (Ps. 73:25). He came to righteous conclusions.

This world with all its trappings is vain and will soon perish. All who have their focus only on the here and now are not to be envied or emulated, but to be pitied. As we think of our attitudes today, are we discontent as we look at others? We ourselves cannot make equity with the evil around us. If we go only by appearance the wicked appear to be getting away with their evil and are prospering. We must turn our attention by faith to the Word of God. We need God’s Word to continually be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Nothing can take its place. We must instill this in our children, and to everyone that will listen. It is no wonder that our Lord commanded that we abide in Him. He said to His disciples, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4). To abide in Christ is to be in His Word and be reminded that He is the Word (John 1:1). His Word is the truth that sets us free. It places our minds into a much higher plane so that we can have the peace of God that is beyond comprehension. Paul said, “Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 6:23).