A good self-image is important if we are ever going to be successful. This is just as true in God’s work as it is in any other area of life. When God called Moses to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt, Moses tried to excuse himself by saying, “Who am I, that I should go unto the Pharaoh?” (Exodus 3:11)
Mark that question “Who am I?” There is something more than humility behind it. It expresses a profound sense of inadequacy. There is a tone of self-deprecation in it. Moses looks at himself and sees nothing competent to do that great work. He says in effect, “God, you’ve got to be kidding. I’m a nobody. I could never do that.” If we ever get to feeling that way about ourselves, we like Moses will settle down to mediocrity in Midian instead of doing the great thing that God has for us to do.
Sometimes we let other people convince us that we are a nobody. I have a friend whose college roommate’s first date was with Billy Graham. When she came home from her date that night her father said to her, “Honey, I don’t want you to have anything else to do with that Graham boy. He is never going to amount to anything.” Suppose Billy Graham had heard that and believed it? He might have been content to stay on the farm in North Carolina. But instead he answered the call of God and became one of the greatest preachers of all times.
Self-deprecation, a lack of self-esteem, is inconsistent with true faith in God. God has created us, redeemed us, filled us with his Holy Spirit, and called us to do his great work. If God thinks that much of us, we have no right to deprecate ourselves or to doubt him. We need to commit ourselves to God and walk with him and let him make us into what we ought to be.