Your Worth

“Your worth is in Christ alone.”

This is the first thing I heard in my “happy place” this spring.  Wow.  It sums up my life struggle right now.

We all want worth, right?  We all want to be valued.  The truth is we try to measure our worth in so many different places.   

What do you measure yourself by?  What do I measure myself by? Maybe this goes along with the “success” question I asked a couple months ago. 

I’m a recovering people pleaser, and sometimes I catch myself measuring myself by what people think of me.  If I think people like me, my worth is high.  If I think people don’t like me, I am of little value. 

It seems to fall into two categories for me: presumed praise and presumed criticism/condemnation.

As I think about how I measure myself thru the eyes of other people, it’s just plain silly. 

The likes on Facebook, the comments on Instagram, the comments I get at church, the attitude I feel from other people . . . 

A lot of these things are presumed praise.

A “like” on the internet, I presume the person read the post and liked it-  Score! I am worth something! –YET truth be told, maybe they liked the picture and didn’t even read the caption.;-)

A comment at church, which by the way, are few and far between.  YET am I striving for them?  The comments that do come, what are they?  About our girls, how cute the dresses are. Does that really bring value to me?  Do the dresses my girls wear define my worth? I’ve caught myself, I do that – and it is again presumed praise.  I presume that because they like my girls dresses, they like me as a person.  Hummmm, probably not.  Seems silly, right?

A comment on the blog, wahoooo a comment on the blog!!  (Have I ever told you I LOVE it when people leave comments on the blog?)  Now that is a place to measure my value on!  OR is it?  😕 

This isn’t all I do (or did, remember I’m a recovering people pleaser); I also do this same method backwards.  I read criticism or condemnation into what people do or don’t do.  The absence of likes, the lack of comments at church, and the lack of comments on the blog.  I presume that it means I am nothing, with no worth. 

Both are wrong- because it is all presumed.  I read into the comments and the likes and the way people treat me.  When I read into it, I often read too much into it-  either thinking they think more of me than they really do OR thinking they think less of me than they really do.  Both are presumed and both are telling myself a lie.

I put too much stock into something that isn’t really accurate.  I measure my worth by something that is not accurate.

So I realize how silly this all is.  Really, as I realize how wrong that this all is, I find myself asking a question…where should I find my worth?  In my kids?  In other people??  If they like me, if they need me, if I’m special and a part of their life?  Does that make me worth more?  Yes, and No.  When people need us, then we seem to be worth more. YET people, even our kids, get to the point where they don’t need us.  (That is the point of motherhood, to raise our children so they can live life without us.)  What happens when our friends, our family, our children, and/or our co-workers don’t need us anymore? 

You know, it happens. 

Our job changes and someone takes our old position.  The foster child we had goes back to their parents.  Our children grow up and get married.  If that is what we found our worth in then – poof, our worth is GONE.

Friend let me tell you something…

People change, people are human, and people move on.

If our worth is found in people, then our worth is about to move on.

Friends, maybe there is a better way.

Who is unchanging?  Who knows everything?  Who never leaves us?

Our Father, our God, our Savior.

That is where we need to get our worth from- God.

We need to search the Bible. 

We need to believe the Bible. 

We need to let the Bible determine our worth.

For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.  Romans 12:3

But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.   1 Samuel 16:7

Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?  But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.   Luke 12:6-7

For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.  I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.  Psalm 139:13-14

Our worth is in Christ Alone!  Hallelujah!