Do you sometimes feel worthless? Or, at times, feel that you are of little value because of the kind of job you have, the way you look and the way people treat you? I have. I can still remember as a child, I felt worthless each of the many times I spoiled my sisters’ lunch or dinner when the family was having meals together. As a teenager, I felt worthless the time I lost a soccer match without even scoring a goal, worthless for my careless driving by bumping the car into a fence. As an adult, I have felt worthless after making mistakes on the job and getting reprimanded by the boss. I can not count the number of times I have felt that way about myself. All of you have probably had similar experiences too. Feeling worthless is a common problem for every person and no one escapes this negative feeling. Often, we allow unworthiness to carve into our lives and steal our focus from God. When we concentrate on personal frailties and imperfections, we scoot the reality that God is worthy to the back of our minds. We begin seeking self gratification rather than God’s glorification. Everything we do is all about us and not about God

 

In this 21st century, every day we see and hear commercial messages that continually bombard our eyes and ears. Advertisers spend millions to tell us about all the latest products that we cannot be happy without. We still value people on the basis of numbers, tangible and visible realities - things that at their very best are mere shadows of reality. Too often, people still measure themselves based on the world’s standards like: assets in stock, real estate possessions, money in the bank. We try to measure up to the world’s judgment of worth. The size of the house you live in and the make of car you drive are status symbols. At school, children are judged by intelligence and how smart they are. If they do not excel and obtain B’s and C’s instead of A’s, too often we hear parents call their children “stupid” or “dummy”.

 

When we see others live in luxurious houses, drive expensive cars and take exotic vacations, we feel our lifestyle seems unpretentious and humdrum. That’s why young people give in to drinking/smoking/taking drugs to be accepted by their peers. Young couples struggle to keep up with the Joneses, going heavily into debt. We are too concerned about what the world thinks. How much we possess is not as important as our attitude toward our possessions. Paul wrote that “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” (1 Timothy 6:6). Regardless of our status, we should be content, neither coveting more, nor resenting those who have more than we do.

 

A man could have all the money in all the banks in the world, and be worth nothing so far as God is concerned, if he were still living “to and for himself.” Let’s not forget what our Lord Jesus Christ told us in Mark 8: 36-37: “36 For what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? 37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” Unfortunately, the inability to discern the true worth of an individual is because the bulk of human consciousness is still trapped in the materialistic world and they are still spiritually blind.

 

God sees us very differently. First and foremost He sees us “as His children”. John 1:12 tells us that those who received Christ and believed in His Name, God gave the right to become His children. The Bible has many passages that also tell us what God has to say about our worth and our value. Genesis 1: 26-27 says we are made in His image, the very image of God. Psalm 139: 14-16 says we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and all the days of our lives were written  in God’s book before we were ever born, confirming God’s prior knowledge and plan for our lives. Ephesians 1:4 says God chose His children before the foundations of the earth were ever formed and in Ephesians 1: 14 we are told we are God’s own possession chosen for the praise of His glory, and that we have inheritance with Him as His children.

 

The wording in each of the above phrases: “are made”, “are fearfully and wonderfully made”, “were written”, “God chose His children”, “we are God’s own possession” and “we have inheritance,” all have one thing in common: they are things done to us or for us by God, and not things we have done for ourselves, nor have we earned or deserved them. We are merely the recipients of “…all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). What we can learn from these is that our worth is not all about “self” but God’s given worth to us.

 

Of course, we are all sinners and unworthy, but God never stops loving us as He told us in Jeremiah 31: 3 saying “…Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love….”  God has shown His greatest love to us in Romans 5:8, “…while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Another evidence of how much God cares for and values us is in Isaiah 13:12 where He says, “I will make a man more precious than fine gold, even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.” Indeed, we are much more precious than gold. We are priceless in God’s eyes. Think about how our Lord Jesus, the great and powerful Savior, became a man and walked among us, and then was crucified in the hands of those He created.  He did it because he loved and valued us so much that He wanted to save us from our sins.  In light of the greatness of the price paid to save us, are we not much, much more precious than gold?  God does not love us because we are valuable, but we are valuable because God loves us.

 

To know how God judges worth, it must first start with the way we judge ourselves and measure our own self-esteem. As we grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, our perspective on worth will change.

 

Secondly, we need to look beyond ourselves: How do you judge the worth of other Christians in the church? Do you see them as rivals and compare yourself with them? As a family we must work together, strengthen one another because we are children of God and part of His family. How do we judge the value of non- Christians in our society? We must remember the worth of each human being as a potential child of God. We should not be content to sit idle. We must speak out and talk to the non- Christians about the Savior, letting them know that they too are valuable because God loves them.

 

The way to judge worth is always to be based in Christ. Next time you are upset with a fellow member of the church, remember that person is a child of God, and the Lord loves you both. Next time you are tempted to look with scorn or distaste on a non-Christian, whether an atheist or a lost soul, remind yourself of God’s love for them.

 

There is no reason for you and I to feel worthless. God’s Word provides us with comforts. No matter how worthless you and I might feel, God tells us otherwise. All of us are worth something - not because we are such good people, but because God has made us His people. How does this apply to our everyday lives? How do we live worthy? Ephesians 4:3 tells us: “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” As long as we are united in the Spirit and our eyes are fixed on the character of God, we will live worthy.

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