“I’m Greaaatttt!”

“I’ve got sweet hair!” he said moving his hand in front of his head in a swooping motion in order to draw attention to the obvious amazingness that is his ‘do’.

“I’m Greaaattt!” Little Robert reiterated his palpable pleasure with himself.

However, you do not get the sense that he is being prideful or boastful really… just sincere. (And that, in my opinion, is Greaaattt!)  Robert calls it positive self-affirmation (yea, I know, big word for a 5-year old, huh!).

It’s as though he’s simply ‘stating the facts’!

…with a Grin that falls somewhere between magical and mischievous.

The Robert I’m referring to is Robert Timothy Smith from the Netflix 2018 series “A Little Help”, starring Carol Burnett. He’s cute as a button with his grown-up wire-rimmed glasses, not to mention a grin that falls somewhere between magical and mischievous. And yes, that hair, it is definitely nothing short of ‘sweeet’ (and as I say that I’m doing the same hand-in-front-of-the-head swooping motion that Robert used).

Right from the start, you can see that Robert has an agenda – to steal the show! And it’s Mission Accomplished in my opinion. I could not help myself…I binge watched the entire season in one sitting…hoping to see more of Robert.

His charisma was captivating!

Okay, okay…let me say this before I incur the wrath of the World Wide Web – ALL of the children were cute, sweet and wise beyond their years, but for some reason, Robert stood out to me.

And you know…as I began to analyze my reaction, I really think it was because Robert is totally convinced that he’s Greaaattt!

There is something about genuine self-confidence that is so attractive that we are naturally drawn toward it. And I can’t help but think that the reason we are captivated by it is because so few of us truly possess it.

I am not talking about pride. You can be prideful and not be self-confident (actually, I believe pride is just the opposite and can stem from insecurity).

The way I see it, pride is trying to convince others how great you are, but self-confidence is believing that you are great (to use Robert’s description) and you don’t need anyone else to know it.

As Christians, we are mortified of the word pride, because it’s number one on the Big Seven list (of things that God hates ~ Prov. 6:16-19). And pride is a sin that should be avoided, but self-confidence is NOT pride.

Why are we so afraid to actually like or dare I say it… eeeek… LOVE ourselves.

I can see you out there in cyberspace with a scowl on your face and your index finger on the mouse getting ready to click off of my blasphemous blog!!  But, please hear me out!

I was so unsure about how to feel about this that last week, I googled “Does God want Christians to have self-confidence?” Is it a coincidence that the same day I googled it, I just happened to run across this show featuring 5-year-old Robert who is just oozing self-confidence?…oh, I don’t think so.

You see, God thinks that Robert is Greaaattt too! After all, He’s the One that GAVE him that ‘sweet’ hair in the first place.

Psalm 139:13-14 (A Psalm of David)  You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank You for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous…

Was David prideful in saying that God had made him and that he (God’s workmanship) was marvelous?  Not at all!

(So, now we have Marvelous David as well as Great Robert… Oh my, I can just feel it…my cyber senses are tingling, there goes that scowl and the finger on the mouse again ready to blast my blog back out into cyberspace with a single click.)

We ARE God’s workmanship…

Somehow, I don’t think I could ever get comfortable referring to myself as ‘Sensational Sandra’, but we are God’s workmanship and it is actually an insult to Him when we think less of ourselves than He does.

Should we not at least think as much of ourselves as the One Who carefully and lovingly crafted us?

God wants us to love ourselves in a right and balanced way. How will we know if we are loving others as we love ourselves the way Jesus commanded us to in Mark 12:31 if we don’t first know HOW to love ourselves?

Negative self-talk is very harmful (that is NOT humility) and it does not please or glorify God. Yes, we are supposed to be humble, but humility is not putting ourselves down; on the contrary, it can be quite liberating. Let me expand on that a little.

One description of humility is simply depending on God rather than ourselves.

The world may think that to live and believe that way is self-limiting and that it takes all our power away as a person. Even the word ‘humble’ just sort of makes us cringe (admit it, doesn’t just saying it make you slump down in your seat a little?)

Do you remember that sound the old PacMan machines used to make when your ghost was chased down and eaten…yea, that’s what the word ‘humility’ sounds like to most of us.

However, if it truly means depending on God rather than ourselves, then I think that it is one of the most liberating words in the English language…because that means we no longer have to judge ourselves (our worth, our value). We simply go with God’s estimation of us.

We no longer have to scrutinize our faults; we no longer have to compare ourselves to anyone else; we are no longer judge and jury of our lives, our abilities, our personalities, or our hair (I stuck that hair thing in there for Robert).

We are now free to let all that self-critiquing, self-criticizing, and self-analyzing go. God says we are good (marvelously made by Him). So we are no longer waiting for our self-appointed jury to come back with a verdict – it’s already been settled in Heaven… You are Greaaattt!

It’s not pride…it’s agreeing with God. (Who are we to say otherwise?)

On the count of three…let’s all say with Robert…

”I’m Greaaattt!”

Alright, alright for all the Doubting Thomas’s that are still out there, repeat after me… “I’m Greaaattt… because ‘GOD’ says so!”  (Okay, with that said, I guess I should add this disclaimer…if you think you are great for any other reason, then repent you ole prideful Christian.)

As always…I would love to hear your comments, your opinions, and your thoughts.