“Take up the shield of faith with which you can distinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” (Ephesians 6:16, NIV)
One of the common traps people can fall into is that of negative self-esteem. This trap can lead to struggles with either depression or anxiety. What usually pushes us into this trap are often the “flaming arrows” referenced in the above Scripture. In his book, Freedom, Derek Wilder defines these arrows as “falsehoods aimed right at our thoughts and emotions” (p.31). These falsehoods include negative words about a person that comes from another person. The context or reasoning is neglected and the negative feedback is taken at face value without question. Consider it in light of another Scripture passage:
“22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. (James 1:22-24, NIV)
One of the common mistakes many of us make is we forget who we are according to the One who made us, God. A simple analogy would be, I, as a person from the southern part of the US, went to the northeast part of US and asked for sweet tea. The very possible response I could receive is that I have a funny accent and I was asking for something odd. This feedback could easily trigger feelings of being odd or weird, until I frame it in context of the truth about who I am, specifically that I was born and raised in the South. The truth that my accent is naturally southern and that sweet tea is often associated with southern cuisine is overlooked. This truth is replaced with “flaming arrows” shot from the other’s bow.
Though this battle is fought on a daily basis, one thing that can be done to arm one to fight is remembering God’s truth about who you are.
Two helpful passages are:
Psalm 139, where one can be reminded that God “fearfully and wonderfully made” as well as knows everything about us.
Romans 5:8, where one is reminded that God loved us at our worst moment enough to still send Christ to die for us. He didn’t want to be apart from us, we were worth this great cost, that of His Son.
(Wilder, Derek. (2009). Freedom (Kindle Ed.). Litchfield, IL: Revival Waves of Glory Books Publishing.)
