July 2006
A Message for our youth
The Direction We Take

My Dear Beloved Children in Christ,

Our Holy Spiritual Father and Shepherd Metropolitan ISAIAH, has written an article that I would like to quote from and to share with you these words of wisdom.  His Eminence writes about how human behavior has dramatically changed in the two thousand years since the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We have widened the gap between those who are considered moral and good and those who appear to be going from bad to worse in how we think and how we live.  This really hit home for me because the truth in this statement is proven even in the short time I have lived on this earth.  We have changed our thinking in what is acceptable and good and what is not. 

The direction we take is reflected by two terms that our Eminence pin pointed for us.  These terms are “self-respect” and “self-esteem”. 

Self-respect means that our behavior reflects on something greater than we are, such as family, our church, and our God, while self-esteem reflects only on ourselves.  We are told as parents that self-esteem is very important in nourishing our children, and that we need to instill that in you our children.  I agree, but His Eminence brings out a very important distinction between self-respect and self-esteem that I believe we need to look at as far as how self-esteem should be portrayed and emphasized to you.  Self-esteem should be built upon the fact that we are created in the image of God, and that we continue to aspire to those higher and loftier goals our Lord has shown us.  His Eminence points this out for us.  He says that our human growth should not be limited by worldly values, but strive for the higher values and teachings of our Lord.  We should look at the perfect example set before us by our Lord, and always aspire to live in the example of our Lord, and try to become like Him as much as we can.  This is how self-esteem can actually become self-respect in my opinion.  The difference is in seeing value in us as the image of God, and reaching for those much higher and better values in what God has intended us to become .  We should not look at improving our physical ability by artificial means, our physical appearance by extravagant measures, or to bring attention to ourselves by some outrageous action.  Let us focus on our self-respect that comes from always knowing we are striving to better ourselves by reaching for the higher, loftier goals established by our Lord.  This self-respect then brings the self-esteem, we can feel comfortable because we are striving to become like God in His image.