Secrets of the Abundant Life – The Gift of Self-Worth

John 15: 9 – 17 (NIV): As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.

It's interesting that Jesus said the second commandment is to love others as we love ourselves. This implies that we love ourselves. The Bible clearly teaches that God wants us to do this. This is how we know what others want and need. This gives us a standard as we set out to love each other.
When we read scripture passages like ours today, we begin to realize how much we are truly worth. We begin to see how valuable we are to God – and that gives us tremendous self-worth and a healthy self-esteem. Joy is putting Jesus first, others second and ourselves last, but a healthy self-esteem allows us to do this. We value our own lives and desire to become better each day, and in that process we are able to focus on others and their needs and not just our own. We feel good about who we are and that frees us to make sure other people's needs are being met too. It prevents us from making choices that hurt others.
Why do we feel so good about ourselves? Because God has made us his children. That makes us princes and princesses. We realize that our father owns everything and that makes us beyond rich. We realize that we were created for God's pleasure (Colossians 1:16). We realize that we are Jesus' friends and he loves us so much he laid down his life for us. (Notice the only catch is we must do what he commands. What does he command? That we put our trust in him for life and salvation and to love each other.)
A healthy self-esteem means we are not full of pride or arrogance. We are not selfish or self-centered. We realize that we are children of the King and we don't want to disappoint him. We realize we were created and we are not accidents or junk or mistakes. God doesn't make junk and he doesn't make mistakes. This gives us self-respect and puts us on our way to living the abundant life.