What Are You Worth?
One of the most devastating and powerful lies the enemy uses against men and women of God is in the area of knowing and understanding our TRUE WORTH. Not only when it comes to our place in this world, but especially in the eyes of our Creator, God.
Whether we admit it or not, how we are viewed and how we are seen by others, is extremely important to us. Our self-image drives just about everything we do. It determines what relationships we enter in and out of, what friends we have and even what careers we choose.
A wrong or damaged self-image can and often does, cause significant negative consequences to those around us. It affects our families, loved ones, community and most importantly, OURSELVES.
When our image of ourselves is low, we lack the ability to live out our God-given abilities, gifts and talents. When our self-image is too high, we fall into the trap of being someone or something that we were not created to be. Believe it or not, with a high self-image or self-importance, it is easier to believe that we don’t need any one, and that unfortunately includes God.
THE PROBLEM – Non-Biblical
In my opinion, our self-value is formed at a very early age. I’m not going to go into the details of this, but I just ask you for the moment, to imagine some of the things that you may remember as a kid.
Personally, I remember watching TV Westerns with my grandfather. Shows like the Lone Ranger, Cisco Kid and Rifleman. They were my first male heroes that always came to the help of others, beat the bad guys and save the day. Then came the War movies where strong courageous men had to overcome extreme odds to win the battles and the war. I then found my way to the wonderful world of comic books. Superman, Batman, Spiderman and Captain America. I remember taking one of our metal trash can lids, and painting it red, white and blue. Then making a mask out of one of my t-shirts and subsequently getting a butt whooping by my mom, for cutting up one of my shirts.
My point is that at an early age, how we thought about who we wanted to be or how we viewed ourselves, came from unrealistic models. They were all external images. Whether we pictured our future selves like we pictured our parents, a fireman, a policeman, an astronaut, entertainers or something else, we never were told how to be ourselves.
As little boys, we are told not to cry. To be strong, run fast, jump high, make the team, hit the winning shot. We always had to be better than the next kid, to be the best, to win the trophy. All so we could just feel good about ourselves.
And I truly believe that this idea, this mind-set, continues today.
Job titles, corner offices, large portfolios, expensive cars, large houses, tailored clothes, six-pack abs, super-model wife or girl-friend or both, are all used to describe the successful man today. A man of worth. A man of value.
And unfortunately, we find ourselves expending a lifetime of resources, energy and time, trying to obtain these things so that we can be somebody in the eyes of others, ourselves, and the world. Often at the expense of those around us.
“Men get their self-worth from what they do, not who they love. “– T.D. Jakes
THE PROBLEM – Biblical
The Bible tells us in John 10:10, that “the thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy… “
That thief is of course Satan. And in my opinion, he has developed a strategy to steal our identity, kill our spirit and destroy the relationship that God wants to have with us.
Satan is a liar. He has been very effective at convincing us to chase after these worldly things to define ourselves…our manhood…our identity and our place in this world.
He does this by keeping our focus on the external and not on the eternal.
When we look outwardly to be what the world says we should be instead of finding out what God says who we really are, then our identity is stolen.
And if we don’t know who we are or who’s we are, then we have no real chance of being what God created us to be.
THE ANSWER
The answer lies in hearing the truth about who JESUS says you are. Because, let’s face it, the world doesn’t love you, never has and never really will.
Oh, you may have your name up in lights for a time. Or one day, you may accomplish some great, wonderful thing for you, your family and maybe even society as a whole.
But no matter what you do, what you accomplish or achieve, there will always be someone who has something negative to say. There will always be someone to find fault in you or your achievements. Not everyone is going to love you. And because of this, you will never find your true worth from the world.
But God’s Word says, in Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”
This is a basic, clearly identified and substantiated fact that God truly loves us. We must get past all the brain-washing and lies of the enemy, the world and even ourselves, to accept this fact. God loves us unconditionally. God loves YOU unconditionally!
Yes, we may have made mistakes. Yes, we may still make mistakes. But this will never change God’s love for us.
LIFE BECOMES REALLY REAL
How do I know this to be true?
Well, let me share with you some of my story.
You see, like many, I got my identity from the world. As I mentioned earlier, whether it was from heroes in the movies and TV or from characters in books. To those boys and men, I interacted with in real life.
I came to believe, that a man wasn’t supposed to be sensitive. He was to never back down from a fight, never cry, had to show toughness, never any weakness.
A man was one that only saw girls or women as something to acquire. In fact, the way I found my way into a church was because my buddy at the time said that there were a lot of pretty girls there. I couldn’t wait for Sunday to come.
I sought promotion after promotion on my job. I worked and sacrificed my health, my time and resources to meet the standards of the world to be somebody that others would look up too and that I could be proud of.
What was sad about this was that this all occurred after I became a Christian.
I never fully understood what God wanted from me other than to believe that Jesus was His son and that He died as a sacrifice for my sins.
I call this Head Knowledge.
It wasn’t until after I had an encounter with Jesus Christ that I finally understood, how much I meant to God. That my worth or value wasn’t in what the world said but in how God saw me.
Because of my warped view of what a man was to be, I struggled through many relationships with women. I got married right after college because a man was supposed to go to college, get a good job and then get married and raise a family.
I had no real clue of what a husband was supposed to be other than pay the bills, provide for my home and take care of my physical needs through my wife. And if that did not fulfill me, then there were many other options available because that’s what I saw from the images of the world.
So, to satisfy my needs and of course, it was only my needs that mattered, I had the trophy wife, the cars, the house and the career that the world said I should have.
But there was something missing on the inside.
I tried to fill that emptiness with all manner of material things. New cars, stereo equipment, clothes. I tried to fill it with illicit relationships with women outside my marriage. I tried to fill it with work and my career.
But nothing, absolutely nothing, could fill the emptiness that I felt inside.
The sense of failure and dissatisfaction with my life and the way I had been living caused me to literally contemplate suicide.
The enemy had caused me to get so far from God, with feelings of failure and unworthiness that I came to believe that the only solution to this pain and misery was to take my own life.
I went to my kitchen with a bottle of pain killers, poured myself a big glass of Kool-aide and poured out the bottle of pills in my hand, and in that moment…Jesus entered the picture.
As I was crying and about to take the pills, I heard my name being called. There was no mistake to me in who was speaking.
I heard, “Dracy”.
I said, “yes Lord”.
Jesus said, “When was the last time you were happy?”
I said, “when I was with you Lord”.
Then on my left, I saw this split form in the kitchen. It was the brightest white light that I have ever seen in my life. Two hands reached out from the white light towards me. And I heard Jesus say, “then come”.
Still crying, as I was looking at these pair of hands reaching out for me, another split formed on my right. This split opened to a scene that looked like the Vegas Strip at night. It was dark with the sounds of cars honking, laughter and the bright neon lights of the hotels and shops and restaurants.
As I turned to look at this new scene, I heard Jesus say, “this is your last chance, son, to come to me.”
I took one last look at the vision on my right, then back to the hands that were still reaching for me and I said, “yes Lord, I want you”.
At this point, both visions vanished. I put the pills back in the bottle and poured out the Kool-aide. I then began thanking God for his goodness and mercy upon me.
My heart became filled with the assurance that I truly belonged to God and that I had been made whole.
What I had been looking for to complete me could never have been found externally. It could only be found spiritually. It can only be found in surrender to Christ.
God became real to me that evening. He was more than stories in 2000yr old book. He was more than just knowledge in my head, but a love within my heart.
I call that, Heart Knowledge
From that incident to this day, my life has never been the same.
No, it hasn’t been perfect. I lost a lot of things both materially and relationally, but I have gained more and more of a relationship with Father God in knowing Him, His Son and His Spirit.
He gave me new eyes to see His Word with and there is where I found my purpose and learned what being a man of God really is.
I found out my true worth in Christ.
He showed me that I’m worth dying for. I realized that I have been reconciled back unto my Heavenly Father. That I was created not to be a partaker of this world, but to be a light and salt to this world. To be a servant, a vessel, an ambassador, a disciple, a messenger…a son of God.
“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1).
No more guilt of the past. Because of the blood of Christ, my sins were/are forgiven. I have a new life. I am no longer the same. I am new.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
FINAL THOUGHTS
No greater love will you find, than the love of God. Nothing will ever satisfy the emptiness that you are feeling inside. No matter how much you achieve in this world, it will never be enough, nor will it ever bring you the eternal happiness and satisfaction you seek.
“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ … that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4–7).
God is giving us an opportunity each day, to let go of the lies this world has filled our hearts with. For it will never value us as much as God values us.
So, what is your True Worth?
To answer that question, one only must look to the cross.
God bless.
Recent Comments