“Are not five sparrows sold for two cents?
Yet not one of them is forgotten before God.
Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.”
Luke 12:6
What gives you your sense of worth?
This isn’t a question we often ask ourselves outright, yet this crucial thread runs through every aspect of our thoughts and actions.
Maybe you believe you need to work hard and earn money to be of value. Maybe you’re striving to perfect a talent, studying to gain more knowledge, or giving everything away and rearranging your life to help others. Sadly, each of these thoughts and plans are often motivated by a deep, innate desire to be loved and accepted. And when you can no longer do what you believe gives you value, a cloud of worthlessness sets in.
My husband, Matt, and I are walking with a parent through the painful battle with cancer and more than once I’ve heard the quiet comment, “I’m just worthless. Worthless.” With the physical body failing and strength and focus at a low point, this precious man believes his very existence is no longer valuable because he can’t take care of himself.
While praying last night I came to the simple truth: “May he know how much he is loved.”
Isn’t that the bottom line of our worth – that we are worthy of love?
Let’s look for a minute at who Jesus placed value on. After all, He is our Creator. He is the one who would know our true worth.
“Now on the final and most important day of the Feast, Jesus stood,
and He cried in a loud voice,
If any man is thirsty,
let him come to Me and drink!”
John 7:37
Jesus shouted for all to hear. He cried out to anyone who was thirsty. He did not give a list of qualifications or requirements. He invited all. He valued all.
But Jesus didn’t just shout this invitation; He radically sought out those whose worth was questionable in the eyes of the world.
- The woman at the well, wife of five husbands and now living with another man.
- A fisherman who witnessed miracle after miracle, yet still denied he knew Jesus.
- Tax collectors betraying their own people for money from a corrupt government.
- The very man who would deliver Jesus to death on a cross.
- Men and women who had failed again and again.
Jesus extended a life of love to each one of them.
Your value has nothing to do with what you can and cannot do. Your worth is not about being worthy. God values you far beyond your talent or gifting or goodness. He loves you without the trappings of accomplishments or achievement.
God values you simply because you exist.
I love Ephesians 2:4-6. God loves you so much that in order to satisfy His own great love, He offers you life, even while you are dead in sin and shame and failure. God loves you regardless of your circumstances. And in this great love, you are worth more than all the riches the earth can contain.
Just think:
If pure, eternal, unconditional love is the foundation on which you stand, even if all else falls away, you are still valuable because you are loved.
Today, “May you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should,
how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is.
May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.
Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”
Ephesians 3:16-19
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