This series called What’s my worth has been so much fun! We are on part 2 and you will be reading from some of the men on my world race team. Wow these guys really blew me away! stay tuned to hear from my other groups and to wrap up I will share my perspective on worth! No worries Part 1 is still up!
Micah: My worth means that through Jesus I have full access to the complete love the Father has to offer. I have full access to the Grace Jesus bought for us. I have full access to the gifts the Spirit gives to us.
Through Christ I’m worthy of living every single day of my life in the fullness of the love God has for us. And when I do that what results is His love flowing out of me and onto others. My worth is not about me, my worth is in the Kingdom and the role God allows me to play in His will.
Ryan: Worth in our culture is generally based on wealthy, prestige, and popularity. Americans are raised with the expectation of a wealth life style. That is the exact opposite of what the Bible tells Christians and our culture masks what our true worth comes from. Lasting worth goes beyond this life and everything we own will be gone when we die.
For me, worth as a Christian comes in two parts. We find our worth in Christ. Through the promises of the Word, I have learned how God has seen us, as Christians, and the need to base our worth on how He views us. Throughout the Bible, He explains why I was made, what purpose to fulfill, and how our maker loves me deeply. The second part comes after I pass away. God has promised that if I live for him, I will have treasures in heaven and get to rule with him. To follow the worldly example of worth is meaningless in the end. If God does bless me with wealth or popularity, I should be finding ways to use that to serve God. Only when I am transformed to be like Christ, do I find true satisfaction for who I am and what I have done.
Mitchell: What does my worth mean to me?
Well, I look at it from two different angles.
The First: The World Angle.
Growing up I always felt the need to please and serve people as much as humanly possible, turning very much into a people pleaser, and thinking more and more that my worth was in what I did for God. My actions must bring Him glory no matter what, but now I know that that flowed more into my worth being found in how I served not actually looking to Christ at all, which bring me to the second angle.
The Second: The God Angle.
When I understood Salvation and redemption back in high school for the first time my view on my worth really imploded you could say.
I knew God saw me and loved me, brokenness and flaws included. I learned my worth is in Him alone, I have nothing to prove, I am only here to point back to Him by words and my deeds, my worth is found in Him, what He says about me.
Nothing else.
Andrew: Okayyyyyy here goes nothing! Warning you now this is going to be LONG, but it is also a pretty big topic… I will try my best to be brief
I think of 2 different things when it comes to worth.
First is how do we normally see the worth of something? We see it in how much it costs… the value is based upon how much money you have to give up to have it. From this lens, we are of ultimate worth. What do we cost? We cost Jesus the ultimate price. He had to die for us to be purchased. Not only did He have to die, He had to do so in the most gruesome manner possible… crucifixion. He was stripped naked, beaten/whipped to the point of death, crushed by the agonizing pain of having a crown of thorns beaten down into His skull, forced to carry a 200 pound cross through the city and up a hill (it was so impossible for His physical condition at that point that He collapsed and had to have help), nailed up on a cross, cursed, mocked, laughed at, spit on, and humiliated in every way possible. He hung there for hours slowly suffocating to death. Each time He took a breath He had to endure agonizing pain (they strategically placed the nails in His feet right below the nerve… so every time He would have pushed Himself up to be able to get a breath, it would have been excruciating pain. Eventually Jesus gave up His Spirit and died… and what most physicians will tell you is that the evidence points to Jesus having quite literally died from heart failure rather than suffocation. The water that came out with His blood is very common evidence of fluid having built up around the heart due to shock and constriction of the heart. Jesus quite literally died from a broken heart.
That is graphic but necessary. But guess what?! Guess what that tells us about our worth?! We are worth that kind of torture. Just for the simple chance of the Father getting to be with us… not even a guarantee… we still have to make a choice to accept Him as both Lord and Savior. That cost wasn’t even a guarantee for the Father… like what?! We are so worthy that that incredible, unimaginable torture was worth it just for the CHANCE at being with us! And even further, Jesus Himself considered it a JOY to do so. Hebrews 12:2 tells us, “For the JOY set before Him, He endured the cross… despising its shame”
Friend do you want to know what that JOY set before Him was? You! Your heart! Your access into the throne room of God. Jesus didn’t die for us to be moral. He didn’t die to just get us out of hell. He died so that we could KNOW Him, walk with Him, praise Him, and enjoy Him.
Our worth is ultimate because the cost was ultimate.
Another analogy we are given in scripture is that we have been adopted into the family of God. In ancient times, when somebody was adopted ALL their debts were cancelled in a moment. They immediately became a part of their new family. If they had $1 million of debt… in 1 second it was gone. No more evidence that it ever even existed. That is the freedom that we received the moment that Jesus paid our price. ALL debts… GONE!
The second thing I would point to is much shorter. We were created in the image of the trinity. That means that every single person on this Earth has the potential to reflect the character of God. Every single person is an image-bearer. Think about that the next time you get mad at a random stranger in traffic. Every single person reflects the image of God Himself, in some capacity… no matter how small or obvious it is. Look for that in people! Call that out in people!
Knowing your worth will change everything. It will change the way you treat/love people. It will change the level to which you allow yourself to dream. It will change the confidence that you walk in. It will change your motivations and intentions. It will change what you value… what the Father thinks rather than what people think. It will change the way you make decisions… you will find yourself giving up your own dreams for His.
