Have you Struggled with Your Value Lately?

When Danny and I met, he often wore a suede jacket with leather fringe. I really liked that jacket, but Danny loved it. He had bought it on a trip to Mexico. After a while he hardly ever wore it, so it was relegated to the back of the closet.  We’d been married probably 10 years when I decided to put that old coat in a yard sale. Someone scooped it up right away. 

After Danny got home that evening I shared with him what all I had sold.  When I mentioned the leather jacket he was unhappy.  I guess because he hadn’t worn it in a long time I just didn’t think it meant anything to him.  I was frantic that I had gotten rid of it. I remembered that guys in commercials got hot under the collar when the old fraternity jacket or bowling shirt was thrown away.  Fortunately for both of us I was friends with the purchaser.  I called her and asked if she would mind selling me back the jacket, which she did.  That old coat is long gone now, but that day I was able to restore something of value to my husband.

We are quick to check out the value of things. We watch antiques shows on television, hoping to spy something that we too might have hidden away in a closet. Sometimes we cringe as we hear the value man has placed on an old piece of history. Who does the deciding anyway? What makes one picture so valuable and another totally valueless? 

Ever look at yourself and feel that you are worthless? Maybe you were told that one time and it has stuck with you all these years.  Someone may have told you that you were priceless and yet in the end, they dropped you like so much junk. You still feel it, you may still believe it, as you hear the words casually said at the time. Feelings have a way of creating our world. Instead of rising above it, we often bend beneath it. After all, you may think,  if they think I’m no good, of no value or rubbish, then it must be true.  We live with a lie because we allowed someone else to devalue us. 

Oh beloved, God says to you this morning, you are of incredible value! You are a one of a kind, priceless jewel to the Lord! When God looks at you He sees something special that no one else may see. He calls you by name! You are His! There may be labels on you that try to put you down but God’s labels cover it all – Redeemed, Precious, Beloved.  Rejoice with Him this morning that your worth is determined by God and not by man. Those who count will know this and those who don’t know it don’t count. Run to His Word and find all the magnificent things God thinks about you.  Even if you are struggling with labels you want to remove, give those things to God and let Him remove them for you! He is able to make all things new, including you! Oh how He loves you, beyond your wildest imagination! And oh how He is with you, making you more than you were and all that you can be in Him! Now that’s worth praising His Name!

Romans 8:1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.

Isaiah 43:4 … you are precious to me. You are honored, and I love you.

2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake He made Christ to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become endued with the righteousness of God [what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him, by His goodness].

Psalm 107:2  Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the adversary.

Romans 9:25 As He says also in Hosea, "I WILL CALL THOSE WHO WERE NOT MY PEOPLE, 'MY PEOPLE,' AND HER WHO WAS NOT BELOVED, 'BELOVED.'"