Worth

Worth, Strength, Purpose,
Placing value on human life.

I have worth because....
I have strength to....
I have purpose for....

Each of us is incredibly valuable, we are capable of making choices and we have a divine purpose that God has created for us.

What is worth?
Worth - the quality that renders something desirable, that commands esteem and respect.

We think about worth often in the monetary value of things and the benefit of something, either for us or somethimgw e can offer someone else. We tend to think of worth as the value that something has: the top is worth $10;  it wasn't worth the money I paid for it; what is it worth to you? etc
We can value people this way too, by what they do! But this is not God's way.

God's way places value on people because they are and not because they do. God says we have worth because we exist, because we are. Worth is not about material or physical assets, even if the world in general and the media in particular tells you that it is. Worth is an intrinsic quality, given to us at conception, because we are.

We treasure what we value, those things that are of great worth to us - our families, our friends, our relationships that are important to us. Worth is not dictated by the circumstances of life - what we have or haven't done - but by the value that God places on us for who we are, not what we do. In our culture we often derive our value from what we do. We find out what others do and we measure ourselves against this mark - either better than or worse than - (which leads to pride or lack of self-esteem).

Thomas Edison said "Your worth consists in what you are and not in what you have". This is partly right, but it's really about what we are in the sense of how God sees us. God says "I value you on the basis of who you are - a much loved and valid person of great worth simply because you exist." What we do does not change our worth or value - e.g. the $10 note - crisp and clean or old and squashed - its still $10. It still has intrinsic worth.

We have incredible value in God's eyes because we are, and he loves us so much that he sent his Son for us. We were created to be children of God. Because God values us highly and places great worth on who we are, we also choose to place value and worth on others.

So who am I? I am a woman of great worth Because:

1. I am known by God
Everything about us is known by God. He knows our greatest desires and our greatest needs. He understands everything we have and do. He knows us intimately.

Psalm 139 :1-2
Lord you have examined my heart and you know everything about me.
You know when I sit down and when I stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I'm far away.

It goes on, showing how God is there always, he knows us and we can be assured that we are known by him.

Psalm 139:6
Your knowledge of me is deep, it is beyond understanding. GNT
God knows everything about us, and this is a good thing, it is meant to show that he cares for us, and that he knows us.

Jesus said that God knows even the number of hairs on our head. In Luke 12:7 Jesus says that God even cares about the sparrows and knows when one of them falls, and we are more valuable to him than a whole flock of sparrows. We are known by God therefore we do not have to worry about anything.He values us highly and cares for us. God wants us to understand that he knows us, because he values us and wants us to know him in return.

2. I am loved by God
Knowing everything about us, the good the bad and the ugly, God still values us and loves us. We are of great worth to him.

Eph 1:4
Even before the creation of the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
Loved and chosen by God.

God has loved us for a long time. Since before the creation of the world, we were loved by God. He saw us, and loved us even when we had not been born. This is something that shows our great worth. We are loved by God.

John 3:16
For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believed in him would not perish but have everlasting life.

God loves us so much that he was prepared to lay down his life for us.

Romans 5:6-8
For when we were still helpless, Christ died for the wicked at the time God chose. It is a difficult thing for someone to die for a righteous person. It may even be that someone might dare to die for a good person. But God has shown us how much he loves us - it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us.

What this verse actually means is that while we were "devoted to sin" God proved, established and exhibited his great love. It goes on to say that we were God's enemies, but because he loved us he made us his friends through Christ.

1 John 4:9
And God showed his love for us by sending his Son into the world, so that we might have life through him.

We see God's love in the way he treats us and tells us to treat others. We are loved by God, therefore we can love others in the same way. In John 8:1-12 we read the story of the woman caught in adultery. For many of us, familiar with this story, we see and understand God's grace extended to this woman. But we also see Jesus placing incredible value on this woman.

The teachers of the law wanted to humiliate her and judge her because of what she had done. Jesus treats her differently. Jesus sees her not by what she has done, but by who she really is - a woman who is loved by God and in need of care and restoration. The love of Jesus for this woman elevated her and changed her. She understood that she was valuable because of who she was and her value was not in what she did. Jesus loved her enough to encourage her to change her ways, but his love for her, and God's love for her was based on her intrinsic value as a person and not on what she had done or failed to do.

I am loved by God, not because of what I have done, but because of who I am. Loved by God means that I am valuable and of great worth to him.

3. I am created by God
Each of us is incredibly valuable and we see that in the amazing creation that we are. We are created human beings but we are created in the image of God. We are created individually and specially with different fingerprints, different DNA. The human genome is an incredible thing. Scientists have been able to identify it. We are different to very other animal.

We are not like any one else - we are not a copy. The Mona Lisa is a masterpiece, a one of a kind. We may copy it, but the copy will never be the masterpiece. We are one of a kind, not a copy of someone else. We alone are created in the image of God. God desired human beings to be in relationship with him, and he desired that they be like him.

Genesis 1:26
Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us.

Genesis 1:27
So God created human beings in his own image.
In the image of God he created them;
Male and female he created them.

Make - to fashion, to accomplish, to produce.
Created - to shape and to form.

We are created by God. His plan for us is good. His plan for us is blessing. God values human beings so much that he makes us in his image, in his likeness.

Ps 139:13-16
You made all the delicate inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mothers womb.
Than you for making me so wonderfully complex. Your workmanship is marvellous - how well I know it.
You watched me as I was formed in utter seclusion as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment laid out before a single day had passed.

God has created us with great care and complexity. He knows us and loves us, created by him, thought of by him before we were born. Jeremiah was a prophet to the nations. He was a young man, called by God and he found it all a bit daunting. God says to him

Jer 1:5
I knew you before I formed you in your mothers womb.
Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you a prophet to the nations.

God knew who Jeremiah would be even before he was born. God knew us even before were born. This is not about us existing before then, but that God already had a plan in mind for us and created us with great care, with great love and valued us for us, even before we were born. Life for Jeremiah was not always easy, and our life isn't either, but that does not negate God's love for us and does not negate how valuable we are to God.

Ephesians says we are God's masterpiece. You may not feel like one right now, but God says we are his masterpiece. We are created anew in Christ, but even before that we are fearfully and wonderfully made and loved by God.We are women of great value and great worth.

4. I am a child of God
Because I am loved by God, because he sent his son for me, I can be a child of God. A daughter of the King. Romans 8:15-17 says that we are his children and his heirs.

Roms 8:15-17
For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God's glory.

An heir is someone who receives his alotted possession by right of sonship. Our alotted possession is heirs of God's glory. Ephesians says he has given us every blessing in spiritual relams. We are truly children of God if we follow him.

When we understand our true value, when we understand that God knows us, loves us and cares for us, that he places value on us: When we understand that he made a great sacrifice for us, to make a way for us to have a relationship with him, then we can also know that we are God's children.

So I am valuable because I am known by God; I am loved by God; I am created by God and I am a child of God. This means I have great worth. Not because of what I do, but because of who I am. My value is intrinsic, because I exist and am valuable to God, created by him, as his masterpiece.