SELF-CONCEPT OR GOD-CONCEPT?

I’m not sure I’ve ever heard it put quite the way I did as I was listening to my favorite radio program, “Night Sounds” (with the late Bill Pearce) tonight.
As a pastoral counselor of almost two and a half decades, I have often dealt with implication of a client’s self-concept. For you see, over the years I think I have counseled some of the most difficult issues known to mankind, among multiplied thousands of individuals, couples and families; who have been impacted by the people and circumstances and memories which contributed to their self-concept in the first place.
Physical, Emotional and Sexual Abuse. Miscarriages and Abortions. Addictions. Betrayal. Deformity and Disability. Death. Depression.
And to be sure, there is something to it. This self-concept thing.
I mean, what you see on the outside is only a visible symptom of the invisible variable which exists on the inside. One’s self-concept is but a symptom of everyone and everything to which we’ve ever been exposed.
However, whereas psychology teaches that a poor self-concept is the source of all our problems, scripture teaches us that the basic problem is not a poor self-concept, but that we are prone to worship the creature more than the Creator. As humans we tend to spend far too much time with self-examination, and far too little examining the hidden things of God.
Mr. Pearce reminds us that when the Almighty commanded Moses to challenge Pharaoh, and the mortal to whom He spoke expressed doubt about his capabilities, Jehovah didn’t give him a pep talk and attempt to bolster his self-esteem. But rather, He reminded Moses of the existence and power of the God whom he served.
It wasn’t so much that Moses lacked a poor self-concept, but rather he lacked a poor God-concept.
As a great philosopher of our time, …Forrest Gump, once said, “It’s both. I think it’s both…”
I have been in this ‘business’ far too long to deny the reality of self-esteem and its impact on the lives of men and women and boys and girls. And while I affirm its existence, as Christians I think we live beneath our means, and we often get off track and off balance. And we spend a bit more time and energy with self-concept than with our God-concept. We are, after all, sons and daughters of the Almighty God, the Creator of the universe.
Speaking of self-esteem in the little volume, “Captivating” there is a wonderful adage which speaks to the scriptural model.
“You’ve heard that in the hearts of every man, woman and child is a space that only God can fill, but did you realize that in the heart of God, Himself is a space that only You can fill.”
Well, that shines a whole new light on an old subject. Try replacing the pronoun 'you' with your own name. Very few pat phrases or adages I have ever come across is more enlightening or powerful.
While there’s room to consider and devote time and effort to one’s self-concept, I think we can become overly self-reflective and overlook the real ‘there there’ of our existence on this planet.
That old chorus reminds us of all that true and good and real this side of eternity, and in whom our self-absorption must take a second seat.

“Jesus, Jesus, Jesus
There’s just something about that name
Heaven and earth will soon pass away
But there’s something about that name.”


By William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from (Mc)Donald's Daily Diary. Vol. 45. Copyright pending 
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