Our Heavenly Father never intended any of us to have low self-esteem or to feel insignificant in any way. He created us all to feel good about ourselves and to succeed in everything we do. When we don't feel as if we are succeeding in life, we become discontent. And discontentment can easily bring on feelings of insignificance.

We all want to feel that we are getting somewhere in life, and there is nothing wrong with this. However, we must be careful not to place too much emphasis on personal recognition and material things to make us feel better about ourselves. Let me explain. Many of us think if we're not making a lot of money or if we're not being noticed by those we call the right kind of people, then we are somehow insignificant. But think about it, what can money and popularity really do for our spiritual walk? Absolutely nothing! I won't try to mislead you by saying money doesn't bring joy, it does. But it doesn't bring lasting contentment. That's why the Bible instructs us to be content with food and raiment (1 Timothy 6:8). God doesn't want us seeking after things. He wants us to seek after Him.

Here's another thought: Does having money and notoriety cause God to love us any more? Of course not! The important thing is that we don't rely on these types of things to give us self-esteem or the feeling of being significant. This can be dangerous to our faith walk.

Although Jesus was rich spiritually and drew a crowd wherever He went, His goal wasn't to be popular or wealthy. I must tell you I have found that those who place popularity at the top of their priority list for acquiring self-esteem later find themselves wallowing in self-pity.

As Christians, self-esteem is something we shouldn't try to obtain by the world's standards, but rather by knowing whom we are in God. Our Christian walk is NOT about winning a popularity contest. It's about winning the spiritual race that is set before us through God. Hebrews 12:1 says, "Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doeth so easily beset us, and run with patience this race that is set before us." Because of this verse, we need to note that feelings of insignificance can be a weight and trying to win a popularity contest is sin!

And to understand our place we must first realize that we do not have to be rich and famous to hold a significant place in life. You might think because you are not a millionaire, a movie star or have your own talk show that you are a failure. But if you think this, then your thinking is totally and completely worldly.

We need to simply understand that our place in life is important and significant to God. Jesus laid down His life for us all-the poor and the rich; the unknown and the well known; the good and the bad, the beautiful and the not so beautiful. He didn't have to be paid to die for our sins, He just simply did it. If He puts that much value on our lives, shouldn't we do the same? Of course we should! But instead of listening to what God has to say about us, we too often listen to what others say.

Accepting our place is vital to our feeling significant:

We all have a place in life that we need to occupy because Jesus said, "…occupy until I come." You see, there are no insignificant people in His eyes. We are all equal and God has called us ALL to do something. But if we use our work for the Lord just to try to get on TV and get some kind of recognition, we are wrong. We need to accept our place in Him, whether it's singing and preaching to millions on TV everyday, or singing and preaching to 40 on Sunday morning. We need to just simply accept our place and quit worrying so much about becoming a celebrity.

Darlene is Founder and Publisher of The Christian Online Magazine/ChristianMagazine.org