One of the main questions we ask ourselves either consciously or subconsciously is, “what is my worth”? There is something innately within our souls that long for something to fulfill us. That feeling truly comes from a yearning for God.
Colossians 1:16-17 tells us that we were made by God and we were made FOR God. Genesis 1:26-28 says that we are made in God’s image. This is the basis of our purpose in the world — to glorify God as His image-bearers. Now let’s look at Romans 3:23 which says that as God’s image-bearers, we are all equal. That is, we are equal in dignity and worth, and we are also fallen equally. Here is where our wonderful design by God and the beautiful longing for being fulfilled by God and the enjoyment of His presence sees trouble… because we are fallen creatures.
In the beginning, the universe was empty and void, as it says in Genesis 1:1. Our Holy Triune God filled the void with His very breath by speaking everything into existence. Over six days, God filled the empty world with light and darkness, the air and sky, the cosmos outside of the world, the land and sea and all living creatures including mankind.
“For the LORD is God, and he created the heavens and earth and put everything in place. He made the world to be lived in, not to be a place of empty chaos. “I am the LORD,” he says, “and there is no other.” (Isaiah 45:18)
Without God, we are nothing — we wouldn’t even exist or have breath of life. When we feel empty, unsatisfied, invaluable, remember to put out of your mind the things of this world for the created is empty without The Creator. 1 Corinthians 7:29-31 tells us not to cling tightly to the things of this world either by our own hands or with our minds. Ecclesiastes 5:7 says “For in many dreams and in many words there is emptiness. Rather, fear God”
Due to sin entering the world from the original sin or Adam and Eve, our sin nature will always want to please ourselves in some way or another (see 1 John 2:16), but what we are truly yearning, yet going about in the wrong way, is to have our emptiness filled by God. Although our sin nature remains, our dignity also remains even after the fall into sin. In Genesis 9:5-6 and James 3:9 God reminds us that man is made in God’s image and that if we insult or attack an image bearer of God (that’s all of mankind, believer or not) you are insulting and attacking God:
And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” (Genesis 9:5-6)
“With [our tongue] we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.” (James 3:9)
Therefore, we should not punish ourselves by focusing on our sin for too long without also noting God’s grace and our own dignity, especially because the truth is, our sins have been washed and our souls redeemed. Along with our inherant dignity as image bearers of God, it has been added to us the righteousness of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. We can be reassured of this by reading the writings of the Apostle Paul in God’s Holy Word. He never mentions the depth of even his own sin without also mentioning God’s grace:
- 1 Corinthians 15:9-10: “For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle… But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect.”
- 1 Timothy 1:16: Paul calls himself the “foremost of sinners,” but also notes, “yet for this reason I found mercy…that in me, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience…”.
We can say the same of ourselves. No matter what we have done or thought, God’s grace continually works in us. To deny or fail to acknowledge this truth is to say that God’s grace is in vain. Certainly it is right to take time for self-examination, confession, and repentance. But we should eventually come back to God’s grace and our own dignity stemming from being made in the image of God. As fallen yet redeemed creatures, praise Jesus, we are recipients of a special Grace as adopted sons and daughters of The Most High. As such, since the moment of our salvation, we are being “conformed to the image of his Son” as Romans 8:29 reminds us. Jesus is the perfect, untainted, wholly righteous representative of the image of God, and we are being made more like him throughout our earthly lives. That is where our worth is ultimately found.
Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14)
Question to ask yourself:
- What is the biggest thing right now that is keeping you from finding your worth in God?
- What are you currently finding your worth in or what was it previously other than God?
Prayer Prompt:
Thank God for your dignity being made in His image, for breathing you into existence and ask Him for help in placing your worth everyday in God The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.