Highest Esteem

As we continue to look at Paul’s list of things to think about in order to overcome our anxiety, we have reached things that are admirable. Admirable means deserving the highest esteem. It has synonyms like awesome, worthy, excellent, and impressive. Admirable is yet another word that has lost significance in our society. It is used sometimes for commonplace things. “Dinner was awesome.” “Your work is admirable.” “That was an excellent movie.” But do these things really deserve such a description? Are they deserving of such high esteem? So the question is, where do we find something or someone that is deserving of high esteem? I think we can find some things around us that are admirable, all of which are things of nature. And by the way, all of them were created by the one person who is truly admirable. God! So where do we look to find something or someone that is deserving of the highest esteem?

Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! (Hebrews 12:9). There are people on earth that we respect. We respect our parents, at least most do. Many people respect the pastor of their church. We may even have some friends we respect. But, are they deserving of the highest esteem? There are some qualities they may have that we respect, but they like us fall short. They are flawed humans just like us. Now I’m not saying to not respect them. But, there is one person who exceeds them. Jesus is the one who is most deserving of high esteem. He is admirable in His words and actions. If we find people on earth admirable, how much more admirable will we find Jesus? God came to earth in the form of a human named Jesus. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1). “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14). This explains Genesis 1:26 where it says, “Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness.” If we look to Jesus we will find the one person who is most deserving of high esteem.

Think about this. God came down from His throne in Heaven and put on human flesh. His span on earth was short, approximately 33 years, with only 3 years in ministry. All the while He was sinless. In the end of His time here on earth He was arrested on false accusations, stood trial, and was turned off to be hung on a cross. He was mocked, ridiculed, beaten, and spit on. Nails driven through His wrists and feet, and left hanging on a cross where He died. But the grave couldn’t keep Him. 3 days in a borrowed tomb. Then came the resurrection, and Jesus walked out of that borrowed tomb. Why did God do it? Because of His great love for us. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection we can receive forgiveness for our sins. Now this is praiseworthy. This is something that is deserving of the highest esteem. So when we struggle with our anxiety we can turn to the events of Jesus’ life and find that which is admirable.