It is tempting to seek self-worth among earthly things like popularity, athletic ability, good looks, musicianship, or possessions. For an earthly minded person, their level of self-worth is directly proportional to the amount of attention, love, and/or commendation they receive from people. But, if the source of your worth is in earthly things you will eventually come up lacking.

Here’s a stereotypical example… Will drives a ’69 Camaro, dates the prettiest cheerleader, and is starting quarterback for his High School football team. Unfortunately, Will’s self-worth is found in these things and the car accident that totaled his under-insured car left him with a broken leg that ruined his senior year football career.

How about this… Margie‘s poor eyesight along with her coke bottle glasses is just another thing in life she has to deal with. Neither contact lenses nor brand name clothing made it to the top of the family budget since Margie and her little brother are raised by a single mother. Dad left them a year ago and now they’ve moved back home where she goes to a new school and is the object of the usual nerd jokes. “If my Dad would have loved me more, he wouldn’t have left me to live this way.” Obviously, her self worth is in earthly things.

The solution is obvious. Your self worth must be found is Christ. But how? It starts with an understanding of who you are. Hang on to your hats (and what little bit of self worth you may have had left) because the Bible says you are deceitful and desperately wicked, it describes your best deeds as unclean and filthy, it denounces your ability to understand and characterizes you as unprofitable.

This decharacterization of man is a common theme in the Bible to show that man is totally unworthy. However, just because you are not worthy of God’s righteousness doesn’t mean you have no worth in his eyes. Unworthiness does not equal worthlessness. Romans 5:8 melds these two concepts together in wondrous simplicity: while we were yet sinners–unworthy, deceitful, wicked, unclean, filthy, sinners–Christ died for us.

Although unworthy, we are worth the ransom of God’s precious Son! In addition, we are worth so much to him that he intricately designed us before we were ever born. If He cares for the birds in nature there is no doubt he cares for us. We are even worth enough to him that he would care to know the number of hair in our head.

It starts with an understanding of who you are and continues with an understanding of what God expects… That’s another post for another day… http://wp.me/p1sm7i-QA