worth

Worth.

The other day a friend of mine and I were discussing about how she used to not feel “worthy” enough to go to church or to serve God. It’s the age-old story of how the enemy and religion makes us feel worthless and not good enough to participate in the Kingdom of God, or to even get to know God.

The thing about worth is that nothing is worth anything until someone wants it.

Oil can sit in the ground or under the Gulf for centuries and unless someone wants it, has a purpose for it; it remains “worthless.” But it’s the desire for that oil that causes it to become worth something. (Have you filled up your car lately?)

Same can be applied to anything in your house. We’ve all heard the proverbial “if something were to happen to your house, what would you take with you?” scenario. It’s those things that mean so much to you that you would be willing to risk being harmed to get them back that are “priceless” to us. There is nothing we’d take in response for it.

An object, whether it be oil, diamonds, pictures, etc. cannot determine it’s own worth; only the one desiring it can determine it’s worth. The same goes for our worth. In ourselves, we have nothing to offer God in return for his love and his grace, but that is not why he desires us. He desires us because he has already set his love upon us. He has chosen us from before we were born to receive his favor. This is what determines our worth to him. We see the great extent that he went to in giving up his Son, enduring his own pain and risking his name and reputation to rescue the object of his affection: us. He desires us; he has a purpose for us. It is his attention and his intention for us that causes us to have worth.

Today, in spite of anything we may feel, see, hear about us, think about ourselves, our worth is not affected by these things, but only by the one who loves us and has chosen us to be by his side and live in his grace. His name is Father. And you are worthy by his choosing.