Introduction
     1.   Last session
               a.   A healthy self-image is seeing yourself as God sees you; no more and no less.
               b.   Three basic emotional needs:
                         i.   belonging - need to feel unconditionally loved, to be accepted.
                         ii.  worthiness - need to feel acceptable, to have personal value
                         iii. competence - need to feel adequate, confident
     2.   today: Spiritual factors affecting self-esteem

Spiritual explanation for emotional insecurity (we all have it)
     1.   Most of our attributes are responsive (we respond, cannot initiate)
               a.   We’re created in God’s image (Gen 1:26-27). God’s attributes are absolute, ours
          are limited & distorted.
               b.   God is life, source of life (Gen 2:7   Jn 5:26). We reproduce life like ourselves,
          don’t originate life (inventive, not creative)
               c.   God is source of all truth, knowledge, justice (1 Jn 5:6   Rom 11:33   Heb
          4:13). We appreciate these, don’t originate them.
               d.   God is love (1 Jn 4:8). We respond to love, we give love only because we
          received it.
               e.   God is one, unity (Deut 6:4). We respond to unity & understand it, but we’re
          internally fragmented & socially divided.
     2.   One area of sovereignty we share with God: self-determination, free will.
               a.   God is sovereign, but is also complete in himself; the only perfect, complete,
          fully sovereign, all-powerful one.
               b.   We’re self-determinant (free will) but finite, limited in power & ability.
               c.   Cause of emotional insecurity: We want what we want & resist any limitation,
          but must accept our limitations, and must cooperate with others to satisfy our
          basic needs!
               d.   We want independence but must accept our total dependence; someone else even
          teaches us how to take care of ourselves!

Unconditional Love and Spiritual Conversion
     1.   Few sources of unconditional love (U/L)
               a.   true love is unconditional & unchanging, is easily verified (1 Co 13:8, 13)
               b.   U/L from parents vital for child to develop adequate self-image
               c.   people don’t consistently offer U/L; everyone has ups and downs
               d.   only reliable source of U/L is God.
               e.   Since God is love (1 Jn 4:8), loves with U/L; we’re created in his image so have
          an innate need for U/L.
     2.   Proofs of God’s U/L
               a.   Bible. God’s Word, unchanging, available to everyone: teaches of God’s U/L
               b.   Jesus. historical fact
                         i.   laid aside his divinity to become ordinary human
                         ii.  tempted every way we are
                         iii. crucifixion for our sins
                         iv.  resurrected for our hope
     3.   Spiritual conversion
               a.   available to everyone (Jn 3:16)
               b.   makes us personally & spiritually related to God (Jn 1:12-13   Rom 8:16)
               c.   we realize our value to God, his U/L for us
                         i.   we are important to God
                         ii.  destroys “I’m nobody” idea
               d.   we begin to love others unconditionally because of God’s U/L for us (1 Jn 4:7-
          8, 11-12)
               e.   no longer need self-verification (continually proving my worth, acceptability)
                         i.   self-verification is works program for inflating our self-image
                         ii.  our identity now is based on relationship with God
               f.   future classes: examine each of 3 basic emotional needs, discover how God
          satisfies all of the (belonging, worthiness, competence)

Conclusion
We all have emotional insecurities because we have god-like free will, but not god-like
abilities. But all of our basic emotional needs are satisfied through our relationship with him.