Believe in Yourself?

As I was looking for something to talk about, I thought about looking at the moral of a story or maybe even a movie. Anyway, I got kind of sidetracked as I was thinking about something else about movies in general. As you watch many a movie (more often movies for kids) these days, you'll often see the message, “believe in yourself”. You have the power to do whatever needs to be done and it's all within you and that sort of thing. You can probably think of some example in which this was the main message. Sometimes I wonder if they want to put a moral in a movie they're working on but they can't think of one. “How about the old 'believe in yourself' thing.” “Sure, sounds good to me.”

The phrase “believe in yourself” occurs over 300,000 times on the Internet if you search for it. Surprisingly, “believe in Jesus” occurs only about 200,000 times. The tag line for the hockey movie, Miracle was “If you believe in yourself, anything can happen.” The theme song to a kids show, Arthur, says, “Believe in yourself. That's the place to start.” There was an episode of Clifford the Big Red Dog titled, “Believe in Yourself” The list goes on and on with a lot of minor TV shows and Disney movies.

So, although we may see this message all around us, the bible never really says it. It's true that you need a certain amount of confidence in life. If you are too shy to get things done, life can be difficult. And it's important to teach our children enough confidence, how to act with other people, how to socialize, and so on. But it would be harmful to teach this message of believing in yourself to the exclusion of all else. Unfortunately, people begin to do exactly that...believe in themselves and only themselves. If you've ever met someone who believes only in themselves, they may come across as pretty conceited. But as we read the bible, we see a more important message over and over again. Believe in something greater than yourself and trust in God.

Example of Jesus

Phil 2

3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

    5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
    6Who, being in very nature God,
      did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
    7but made himself nothing,
      taking the very nature of a servant,
      being made in human likeness.
    8And being found in appearance as a man,
      he humbled himself
      and became obedient to death—
         even death on a cross!
    9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
      and gave him the name that is above every name,
    10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
      in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
    11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
      to the glory of God the Father.

In the example of Christ, we see someone who allowed himself to be made as low as it gets. He put himself beneath the sins of the world. Instead of exalting himself, he humbled himself.

What does it mean?

One of the problems with the “believe in yourself” message is how vague it is. Does it mean you should follow your conscience? The bible says you should listen to your conscience.

1 Peter 3

15But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

Does “believe in yourself” mean you should do what you want instead of what your parents want? The bible says:

Eph 6

    1Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2"Honor your father and mother"—which is the first commandment with a promise— 3"that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth." 4Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

Sometimes “believe in yourself” just means that you should do what you know is right regardless of what everyone else you says. This is true and we do read this in the bible. Jesus said we are the light of the world.

1 Peter 4 says:

19So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

So, a TV show or movie might be trying to get across this important message of doing what is right no matter what people say, but it gets washed out with this “believe in yourself” message. It's vague.

The Holy Spirit

How does God give us strength in times of problems and trials?

Jesus was giving advice to his disciples about the problems they would face for his sake.

Mark 13

11Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.

They were going to face scary times. Was his advice to believe in yourself? No, it was to allow the holy spirit to work through them. Likewise, today, we have the choice of allowing the holy spirit to work through us, or believe in ourselves.

God loves and values us

I want to look a bit at the problem of assuming you are worthless or good for nothing. David asks the question in

Psalm 8

    4 what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?

We may have times when we wonder this, ourselves. What have people done, when compared to God? We've done nothing when compared with the creation of the universe. We have been pretty good at getting ourselves into trouble. However, God still loves us.

1 John 4

9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

God loves us and values us enough that he sent is son to die in our places. He doesn't want us to be crippled by hating ourselves. He has things for us to do. This requires a certain amount of confidence that can be attained through God.

Paul talked to Timothy about this confidence

2 Tim 1

6For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

Paul calls this motivating force within Timothy the gift of God. He doesn't tell Timothy, “believe in yourself” but he does tell him to fan into flame this gift of God. Paul didn't want Timothy cowering in a corner. It does begin to be a problem when you are obsessed with the possibility that you're worthless. It's the same problem with thinking too much of yourself. Either way, you're obsessed with thinking about your value. It's pointless in the end. It's more worthwhile to continue to work to do what needs to be done in your life. If you've failed in the past, you keep trying.

Romans 8

31...If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

It's strange that our judge will be one who gave his life for our sakes. But this is a great indicator of the mercy and love God has for us.

Believing too much in yourself

On the other side of the coin, Jesus directly addressed the problem of some who believed too much in their selves.

Luke 18

9To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'

    13"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

    14"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

[This is a different message than “believe in yourself”. This message is that you should never be too proud to admit your sin. Humble yourself. The more you lift yourself above others, the more of a problem it is. Selfishness and conceit are not good things.]

    15People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. 16But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."

[This is interesting about children. Much of the time (though not always) they know they have limits and they are honest about them. They know they have a lot to learn. They are humble. Jesus said to look to them for an example of humility.]

As we read in this passage, the Jewish leaders had a problem. They believed in themselves. They believed in themselves and their traditions more than the words of God. It was more important for them to follow a set of traditions than to follow God's greatest wishes that they would be just and merciful and faithful. They believed in themselves.

We've looked at the example of Christ and how he humbled himself. We are to follow his example. We are to allow the holy spirit to work through us rather than thinking we, ourselves, have the power to get through life without God. We read about how God loves and values us so much that he sent his own son to die in our places. Finally, we read about the danger of falling completely for the idea that we should believe in ourselves and only ourselves. If I could leave you with a main message, it would be to have the confidence that's needed to get things done for God, but to worship God rather than yourself.