Value and Self-Worth
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”
Isaiah 43:1
“I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” Psalm 139:14
My coworkers and I were talking about family dynamics, birth order, and personalities the other day. Even though I am the oldest (out of me and my sister), some of my personality characteristics are atypical for a firstborn. While I am hard-working and responsible, I am also a people pleaser and empathetic. On one hand, I am committed and aspire to excellence, but on the other hand, I can also be fairly insecure and wound easily. My skin is too thin, and my heart has taken up residence on my sleeve. My people-pleaser nature makes me a great target for being overly concerned about what others think of me. Said nature also lends itself to de-escalating (or even preempting) conflict, as I am loath to experience it, probably for reasons stated above. (I feel that I should caveat some of this with the statement that I am more apt to (respectfully) challenge or (lovingly) confront if I know you better, and trust that you know my heart and motivation. But even then, my insecurities can still get the better of me).
Such has been my life and outlook for almost all of my life. It wasn’t until maybe last month after some diligent self-examination of my reaction to a particularly challenging interaction at work that I realized that my self-worth should not rest in anyone else’s opinion of me—that the Almighty Lord loved me enough to send His son to die on a cross for me, and that the love that Jesus has for me enabled Him to suffer and sacrifice Himself for me, in obedience to the Father. I realized that I had the ability to actively change and choose the source of the validation I needed—His was the only voice whose tones and opinions mattered. Since it was His breath that gave me life, it should be only His words that define my worth. In a world full of noisy gongs and clanging cymbals, it is the melodious tones of my Creator singing over me that declare my value.
I can’t convey to you how liberating this is! I can actually feel my skin growing thicker by the minute and my heart is packing up its stuff, getting ready to move off of my sleeve! I am now apathetic to what everyone thinks now. Just kidding—I’m the same person I was before, but I’m not, you know? It’s liberating and at the same time, calming, because I don’t have to fret and overthink about what I said and the way I said it, what the other person meant by what they said and the tone they used, and so on, ad nauseum. My Savior loves me, and I am the daughter of the King.
Prayer Requests
· For our government leaders at all levels of authority
· For China, and those impacted by the coronavirus
· For the Lord to be glorified in all that we think, say, and do
· For His will and our discernment of it
Friends, may you bask in the goodness of His grace, secure in the knowledge of His love for you.
Quotes
“God knows the when, the where, the why, and the how. So show up, do your part, and then let go and trust Him to do the rest.”
“People may have us because of Jesus, but they should never hate Jesus because of us. The way we treat others should lead them to only one conclusion: “If this is how Jesus loves, then I’m in.” -Jen Hatmaker