WHAT IS YOUR WORTH? - TO GOD, I MEAN....

A short message I did at a retirement home this past weekend shocked several people. I mentioned that the highest US dollar denomination out there today - a $10,000 bill - was still around but then I took out a crisp $1 bill and proceeded to illustrate.

The thing about US tender, or most other currencies, is no matter what physical shape the item is in, that is what it is worth.  I crumpled up the dollar bill. It was still worth - a dollar. I stomped on the crumpled bill. It was still worth - a dollar. Then I shocked some and ripped it loudly and boldly in half. Even so, it was still worth - a dollar....because I can tape those two half a dollar together with masking tape, even duct tape and/or clear scotch tape - and still use it to buy me a cup of coffee off the McDonald's value menu!

Any and ALL of these acts were a metaphor for our own lives.  Father...our Heavenly Father, Abba, does not see view our worth in our present condition. He sees us as having value - the same value He imputed to us when He breathed life into us at birth. We are worth so much to Him. 

Life can beat us up. 

Life can throw us down.

Life can tear us apart.

People can trample all over us.

Circumstances can do us in.

We can inflict all kinds of damage unto ourselves.....and on and on...., YET, the moment we get to the end of all of that....the moment we get to the end of ourselves, come to our senses and cry out to Him....THAT VERY MOMENT - He takes some supernatural Scotch tape and puts our lives back together. He takes the stomped on; beat up; burnt out; crumpled up mess of our lives and holds us in His Almighty, Loving, Compassionate, Wonderful, Healing Hands.

Our God - the ONLY True, Existent and REAL God - is such a God. The pagan religions of the east and middle east, as well as the newer contrived cults of the West, have one thing in common - their "gods" are demanding; harsh and full of hate and no love. Their "gods" require impossible "good works" and even the lives of "infidels" or 5500 different "reincarnations" so they can "reach nirvana". The Lord you God - the Holy One of Israel - sees us as we are, puts out an invitation ("Come unto Me all who are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest) - and waits for us to respond. The Father of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is that God.

In Matthew 6:26, Jesus says "Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?  There it is! He even uses the word "Value"! We have so much worth to the Risen Savior.

The Bible says "precious in the Sight of the Lord, is the death of His Saints". We have so much worth in the grave, even though we go to be in His Presence if we are born-again.

Even those who reject Him, sadden Him. When the rich young ruler rejected following Jesus, it saddened the Master, because the Bible said Jesus "loved him". God takes no delight in sending people to hell. 

So today...and tomorrow and for the near future and for the rest of our lives, when the world goes after you; when even loved ones hurt you and when pain, ill-health or any circumstance brings you down, remember this - just like that torn up dollar bill, there is a Redeemer and One Who restores. There is this One, Who never made junk in the first place. There is this One, Who when He puts us back together and if we are truly His, the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17 "we are a new creation".,.. and that LITERALLY means NEW! It is the same word that is used for CREATION in Genesis - 'ktesis'. He makes something new out of the nothing we  have made our lives. 

This is our value. This is our worth. Not the lies of the enemy - the devil.
This offer and His promises are all your - AND FREE with no guilt - all you and I have to do is - ask!

THINK ON THESE THINGS - THURSDAY

AM I WORTH ANYTHING? (Part 2)

                             

                    TODAY'S WORD: VALUE

Yesterday, as we began to consider and emphasized that every human is worth so much much more than he/she thinks or believes, a theme developed which we should look at. That is theme or underlying quality is VALUE.

Both self-worth and value are intertwined.  Consider this: a 15 year old girl Stacy, grows up in youth group and has been taught to love Christ all her life and that she is supposed to be the image of Him. She has been around her peers of, say, 10 other kids she has known since age 7 in the same church.

But increasingly at school, the clique around the cheerleaders, start picking on her because she will not come to their sleep-overs, or read Twilight or listen to Lady Gaga. To make it worse, she is part of that 'holy roller' crowd that 'sees you at the pole' to pray every September!

At first, it does not bother Stacy, as she knows the reputation (wrong or not) of those cheerleaders. But then, they start making fun of her weight, which though average, is not   the same as these future McDonald's employees. This bullying continues with psychological warfare in the school cafeteria, giggling behind her back and stupid post-it notes on her locker.

This leads to all kinds of self-esteem problems, up and down dieting, endless tears at home and soon, her single mom starts noticing withdrawals combined with the usual teenage acne covered up with heavier make-up than usual! Sound familiar?

What can we, as adults, do to help a poor child like this whose value in her worthiness has sunk to such a level, even though she hears from the pulpit how much God loves her?

First, we explain what the word Value really means. While WORTH means true self-esteem; excellence of character and more, VALUE is the consideration of your Stacy or Sam with respect to that worth, excellence, usefulness or importance.

At first notice, the parent or parents, have to jump on this case right away and not let it slide, because their child's very life depends on it. Stacy has to be reinforced from home and church support and family groups that she has merit.

Also increasingly, more and more boys are being left by the wayside by a culture focused on surface, sleazy feminine "beauty" that is designed to exhibit an increasingly sexualized society. We have grown adults - in age only - producing shows on MTV on Teenage Moms and Jersey Shoregirls and Wives of....you name the city....with young boys seeing this garbage, not knowing what in the world to make of this, because there is no male leadership pointing them in the right direction!

Even if the young boy is a churchgoer or youth group participant, most church programs are geared towards women.

So now, we have two issues, where both a teenage girl AND boy, will begin looking elsewhere to find value in their lives - absent of true Christian parental leadership. 

Most modern parents were not brought up on True Biblical Character Training. 

Most do not know the Holiness and Righteousness of God. 

Most are not aware that the Word of God has the answers to ALL of life's great questions. Most do not know that Jesus really cares for a loves them. 

Most do not know God VALUES them and us so much, He sent down His own Son, Who created everything in this universe, to die at the hands of His wicked creation. 

Most seek confirm or validate their value elsewhere.

Oh how it must hurt the very Heart of God. Let's begin the healing and loving and bringing in our children by teaching them the way they should go. 

Find a fellowship where there is a program of Recovery in the church.

Find a fellow believer in the office. If this believer is the opposite sex, ask her/him to pray for you, but don't be personally involved in going to lunch etc as a couple...that will lead to disaster. But do ask for prayer and any on-site guidance for books, seminars, cds or people you can talk to in town, about the situation.

Most of all, cry out to God, because He knows exactly what's happening. He values girls like Stacy; teenage boys like Tom, or Sam or Mike and most of all He values and find merit in and loves you...how do I know that, because He loves and saved a wretch like me. Oh, what amazing grace!

Amen

(image by google images)

THINK ON THESE THINGS - WEDNESDAY

AM I WORTH ANYTHING? (Part 1)

KEY WORD IN OUR NEW AND ONGOING DEVOTIONAL SERIES ON ENCOURAGEMENT: WORTH.

The view of a lot of people today (of themselves) has worsened as the moral climate of a country heads down the sewer, into a sea of oblivion. When you have a country where about 75% of its people see it heading on the wrong track, it is not just about economics and budget deficits or career opportunities. It is a question of VALUE....and not just VALUE under the generalized umbrella of the perennial values of Faithfulness; Virtue and Honor...but WORTH.


I found some interesting meanings of this word "WORTH" which have nothing to do with how much money you have in the bank. Here are some of them: excellence of character or quality as commanding esteem; usefulness or importance, as to the world - to a person, or for a purpose and a quantity of something of a specified value.


Those are some powerful definitions! Yet too many of our people from pre-teen to their early 30's are cashing in their chips, thinking the worse of themselves; their potential and their usefulness in life. If you look at some of the official suicide statistics from the federal government's health institutes, it is worse in the female population from 15-24! In general, almost 12 in 100,000 people commit suicide each year - because they have no concept of their own worthiness. So how do we turn this around? Let's go back to the definition? The qualities of a person's worth are:
- Excellence of character
- True self-esteem

- Value to another person

- Value as a child of God

The reason we have so many young people, mostly females, losing their virtue not just in bars or high school parties etc; but in social media like Facebook and MySpace is the adults in charge of educating them have sold out to the agenda of the flesh, sin and sometimes worse than that! Because of the world systems in public education and culture, the four qualities I mentioned above are not developed and taught!

But this is not a problem limited to teens or 20 year old people. Mature adults in their 30's; 40's and 50's are questioning their own worth, as things go from bad to worse in their jobs, homes and communities! The reason has to be a Diminished View of God.

The world values you by what have.

The Lord values you because He made you!

The world values you by what you do for a living.

The Lord values you because you are a child of His.

God does not make junk!

He made a living, breathing, full of life and energy and ready to rumble human being, who is supposed to go out there and make a difference for Him. 

He made a beautiful creation who full of imagination and talent who can show the wonders of the things around them! 

He made a person of worth!  That is YOU, my friend! Why do you think any differently?

Come back tomorrow....

(Image by Google Images)