Valued by God: You are worthy.

Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life. Isaiah 43:4

So often we measure our worth by all the wrong things. We measure our worth by our job titles, how much money we have, our relationship status, education level, our looks, or even our family background. The problem with this is once we find our value in these things, we lose sight of our true identity. Measuring our worth by anything less than what God says about us is cheating ourselves. When we find our value in materialistic things, we begin to set ourselves up for a life of emptiness and low self-esteem. Equating our value by our earthly possessions and the words of others is like the foolish man who built his house on the sand. When it rains, the house on the sand will not hold up. Similarly, when life begins to change and our circumstances look different, we will feel less valuable if we have built our life on our feelings or possessions.

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Matthew 7:24-27

Our significance can only be determined by the One who created us. It’s like any businessperson who creates and sales a product. That business owner is the one who determines how much it is worth and what the price should be; they determine the value. We, as Christ’s children, were bought with a high price. God sent his son to die for us, so that he can have a personal relationship and dwell within us. We are now a part of God’s family, a royal family. We know that anything attached to royalty comes with power and authority.

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. Ephesians 2:19-20

When you think of materialistic things, they typically lose value over time. A car loses its value as soon as you drive it off the dealership lot. Things that were once very important to us can sometimes be tossed to the side and forgotten about. But that is not true with our Heavenly Father. He doesn’t forget about us, lose interest in us, or leave us. After all, we are the apple of his eye.

In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them aloft. Deuteronomy 32:10-11

When we make mistakes and fall short, we begin to question our worth. Sometimes, we question if God really loves us, if his grace is sufficient for our shortcomings, or if we even deserve the goodness of God in our lives. The Bible tells us to make our thoughts obedient to Christ. We can’t allow how we feel in a moment, to change what God has set in stone as truth. Instead, we must combat those thoughts planted by the enemy with the word of God.

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5

Entertaining thoughts of unworthiness can have a domino effect. It can prevent us from rising up to the moment. If we don’t feel qualified, we will be hesitant to go where God is leading us. We won’t pray big prayers and believe God to do the unimaginable in our lives. Feelings of unworthiness can also cause us to settle in places that God doesn’t want us to get comfortable in. Too often we find ourselves playing small and forgetting who has ordered our steps. God doesn’t want us to shrink to man’s standards, but instead to live like we are valued by God, because we are. When we have a limited view of ourselves, we tend to put limits on God. Doubting your own value is basically believing that God made a mistake in how he created you, and we know that’s not true because he never makes a mistake!

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.. Ephesians 3:20

So no, it’s not your past that defines your worth, your accomplishments, your mistakes or the type of car you drive. We are worthy because we are made in His image, made for his glory, and made to accomplish his will here on earth. Knowing our worth is important, because when we become confident in how our Heavenly Father feels about us, we become unstoppable. The confidence in how our Father cares for us causes us to walk different. We talk different. We live different. We don’t worry about pleasing others because we don’t need the approval of others. Stand firm in who you are whose you are because the world will come at you fast and try to assign your worth. You are loved and valued by God and he has a great plan for you!

And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Matthew 10:30-31

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