What Are You Worth?

Recently I was talking to a guy who was unemployed. Like so many others he had been searching for so long and felt frustrated and even hopeless. I asked him what the most challenging thing about his situation was. I thought he would say the financial challenges. He told me it was his feelings of worthlessness. His sense of worth had been stripped from him when his job was lost.

Recently I was talking to a guy who was unemployed. Like so many others he had been searching for so long and felt frustrated and even hopeless. I asked him what the most challenging thing about his situation was. I thought he would say the financial challenges. He told me it was his feelings of worthlessness. His sense of worth had been stripped from him when his job was lost.
We guys do get our worth from what we do and maybe too much. When I struggle with my worth (which is a lot) I have to remind myself how God feels about me. The culture tells us that we are valued by our paycheck and position. The truth is our value is not measured by what we do but by who we are.
For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them. Ephesians 2:10. Another friend told me that since his business has struggled he wakes up each morning expecting God to use him in the lives of others. It has changed his perspective and given him a sense of worth that previously he had not experienced. His business is still struggling but he is encouraged because God has refocused him on what is eternal. Each day becomes an adventure with God.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. Psalm 139:14 I love how the writer is not shy about admitting he is as marvelous workmanship. This is a healthy esteem! Acknowledging our worth comes from God and living with that reality is powerful. When we diminish our worth we open ourselves up to all kinds of thoughts and actions that are destructive. Eve believed the lie from Satan that God didn’t have her best interest at heart and she sinned.
We have value because God is our creator and we are his workmanship.
If we pursue the material things of this world in order to gain our worth we will be living the lie that began with Satan in the Garden of Eden. If we pursue the things of God we will be successful no matter what our job or the size of our bank account. Our worth can only come from our creator. When it does, our circumstances cannot change it. We will stand firm and will refuse to seek anything but God. Proverbs 3:5-6 is a reminder of this for me.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding. Acknowledge him in all your ways, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6
Live in that reality each day and see how your perspective is transformed. My understanding says… I have to make it happen. Acknowledging God in everything means he makes it happen and I follow the path he puts in front of me.