i have value and so do you

I have value.  This may sound like more of the egotistical, man-exalting drivel that we see plastered all over our somewhat narcissistic society.  But I would argue that it is not.  My value does not come from my beauty or lack of beauty.  It doesn’t come from a number on the scale.  It doesn’t come from how other people accept or reject me, or like or retweet my post.  It does not come from success at school or at my job.  It doesn’t even come from some of the greatest things in life like being a wife, sister, mom, or daughter.  Most importantly it doesn’t come from me at all.

Yeah, I’m not so great.  I know the kind of things that come from me, from deep down in my heart and in the far reaches of my mind.  Things that I work hard to keep secret from the people around me.  But things that aren’t secret from my creator and maker.  Things like envy, selfishness, unforgiveness, and bitterness that all too often creep in and try to corrupt me from the inside out.  That seep out into my speech in my unguarded moments, namely with the ones I love and care for the most.  Yeah, did I mention, I am not so great.

But even so, I have value.  I have value and so do you!  It is a value that can’t be robbed from us by our peers, it can’t even be stolen from the most intimate of betrayals.  Value like this is more precious than anything the world has to offer.  It is what gives us purpose and contentment even when the world around us crumbles.  And oh how often and unexpectedly that can happen.  When the inevitable happens it is what allows us to keep our chin up; it is what allows us to put one foot in front of the other.

This value is not something that can be ginned up on the inside.  It may seem so temporarily, but ultimately that kind of value proves to be what it was all along when life gets tough, fool’s gold.  All the while the pure, true nugget gleams all the brighter in the trials and adversity life throws our way.  Ones that bring a grown man to tears, ones that knock even the most resilient person flat on their face.  A spouse or boyfriend walking away, the rejection of a dear, dear friend, the death of a loved one, illness and injury and depression or all three, the dimming of beauty and admiration of the world, a lost job, a lost reputation, or the dreaded “failure” whatever it may be.

Our value is this:  Christ loves us and died for us.  Period.  The creator, sustainer of the universe loves me and loves you.  There is no greater value in life than this and it can never be taken away from us.  Nothing, absolutely nothing, on earth can rob us of this true value.

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:38-39

Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

How much more valuable are we to God than the flowers that he so beautifully, thoughtfully created?!  Oh yeah, I am pretty valuable and so are!  My prayer is this, that we would recognize this truth, adorn ourselves with it, and never let it go.  Our lives and the lives of the people around us would be all the better for it!

xx,

Lauren

Does this post ring true for you?  Where do you look for your value?  Do you even feel valuable?  Let’s have a conversation!