True Value

So often we pretend to be something we aren't while hoping it will cause others to like us. I wish I could say this is only a middle school or teenage problem, but it certainly affects adults as well. We make alterations to our speech, attitudes, and behavioral patterns in an attempt to appear to be something different than who we are. At the root of it all is a fear that we won't be accepted for who we are. Our life history (what we have done and what has been done to us) has shaped this negative mentality. Unless we recognize this paralyzing cycle and the lie that fuels it we won't understand our true worth. In all of our imperfection, we have value because God loves us for who we are.

What's Your Value?

By what measure do we determine our self worth? For most of us it's found in two outcomes: the

things we do & the things we don't do. When we do something positive (achieve a goal, buy gifts for our family, take part in community service, refrain from sin) we feel better about who we are. When we do something negative (yell at our kids, slip back into bad habits, ignore people around us) we feel worse about who we are. Essentially we set up a self-value that is based upon our behavioral choices. While this might work in some respects in the physical world, it creates an inaccurate picture of our standing with God.

I believe that one of the most difficult things for us to realize is that God doesn't base His estimation of us on our behavior. There is no cosmic, supernatural scale where God weighs our daily choices and then decides whether to show His love and answer our prayers. We are completely loved regardless of our actions (even though we confuse consequences with God's disdain.) His love and our value in His eyes are constant--this is the status we struggle to accept in a world that generally follows the opposite philosophy.

Humbly embracing the everlasting love of an eternal Father is key in grasping His gift of salvation.