I honestly think we became hungry for praise in the Garden. Let me explain:
Which He will bring about at the proper time - He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. - 1 Timothy 6:15Blessed. God is blessed. What does this mean? We translate makarios as blessed here, but the word that might resonate more for you with makarios' meaning is 'happy'. Did you catch that? God is happy - and not just in some "stay positive even when things get tough" kind of way, God is content. With Himself. He's happily in relationship with Himself (remember He's a triune God) and pleased with His lifestyle. He has achieved much - in fact everything He has wanted to so far. He doesn't think lowly of Himself but not overly highly either. God knows Himself fully and is happy with Himself. Ooh what we wouldn't do for a slice of that self-esteem!
Now think about it: a perfectly happy God designs the whole universe - including human beings. He sets the humans up in the paradisaical Garden of Eden and then walks with them there. Adam and Eve spent time with this happy God, and were thus happy themselves. Then comes the tragedy: we walked away from God and decided to do things our own way. Adam and Eve ate the apple and it all went downhill from there.
There's just one problem with us going our way: God's way is the happy way, and He designed us to work the same way. So our way, being not the happy way, is the UNhappy way. We walked away from a God who loved us unconditionally and in so doing forgot our own value. We spurned a God who taught us happiness and in so doing found discontent. We need "self-esteem" but all the value we need God sees, and He's waiting to tell us just how valuable we are to Him. So next time you're feeling low, remember you serve a perfectly happy God who thinks you're valuable and shake off the self-centered, godlessly low self-esteem.
Alright so coming from someone who doesn't necesarily agree with this view of God, I think the arguement that you pose here is exceptionally intriguing. The way that you bring the concepts of happiness, contentment, and esteem into conversation with eachother is compelling and it made me think specifically about the idea of self-esteem a little deeper. I have never thought of God as a being who has esteem, but the way that you explain it makes sense, he is content with what he has created and who, I suppose, He is. Also the way in which you discuss the triune status of God also made me think of how human beings work themselves--for we also have many different aspects of ourselves. Perhaps by looking at these multiple aspects and finding peace between them, a contentment within ourselves may also be found. But then again, I could be wrong...very insightful post!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I think, too, that thinking about the triunity of God gives us another insight into happiness and esteem. Verses like John 17:5 and John 17:24 show us that each member of the Trinity has glory because the other members of the Trinity give it to Him - esteem Him with praise. In the same way, we must learn not to seek praise but to give it where it is due and if we all learn to do that then all will be content with what praise others give them! Seeking praise makes us prideful and selfish and leaves us disappointed and vain. Thanks for reading!
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