What Does It Mean to be a Lutheran Youth… When It Comes to Self-Esteem?

A recent study showed that the average teen spends two hours every day on social media websites. This time spent online is, in theory, used to connect with friends and family. In reality, youth spend those hours posting random tweets, pointless posts, and EPIC photos about every waking moment of their lives. Is this time online supporting an inflated sense of self-importance? It seems that our socially-driven culture is inspired by a reality show mentality, which suggests that teens’ value and worth comes from their ability to market themselves to the world. This clearly is not exclusive to teens, as adults are just as guilty of this ego-driven focus of self-promotion. The world of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and Google+, just to mention a few, is reinforcing the idea that youth use social media in order to create a glamorized and idealized perception of their identity.
Also, the internet is not the only environment where teens and youth are getting the message of how special and important they are. Parents, schools, and coaches all work very hard to increase self-esteem in children. Our world is built on the idea that you are not important if you are not special and unique. An example of this is that parents increasingly give their children more and more uncommon names. Research has shown that in the late 1880s, forty percent of children received one of the ten most common names. Today, fewer than ten percent do. Additionally, it seems as no surprise that, in this world focused on self-image and individual fame, youth have also reported a significant increase in depressive symptoms. So how does a Lutheran youth live in the current world, which suggests the only way to have value and worth is to keep up with the rest of the Facebook world?
In confirmation classes and through parental instruction, you have learned the Christian ethic of humility. Perhaps the greatest Biblical example of this comes from Luke chapter eighteen: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The 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. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ 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’” (Luke 18:10-13). This example is a direct instruction for us come to our Savior with humility and even shame because of the weight of our sinful fallen nature.
However, observing and stressing humility does not mean that Lutheran youth aren’t valuable and worthy of praise. Humility does not mean that Lutheran youth who adhere to this ethic will subsequently be more depressed and dejected because they can’t feel personal value. In fact, it is exactly the opposite. Lutheran Youth should feel secure and confident about their worth because they own the greatest testament of true value and worth: self-sacrifice. Your value comes not from Facebook posts or Twitter followers, but the fact that your Savior chose you, personally you, to live a perfect life and sacrifice his own life for you. This also impacts the way that you are able to accept acknowledgement for earthly accomplishments, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works” (Ephesians 2:10). Embracing and acknowledging your earthly accomplishments is a way for you to honor the value that Christ has placed on your life.
Joshua T. Mears is a Christian counselor at Wisconsin Lutheran Child and Family Service—Christian Family Counseling.