We have all been called worthless. Whether it was a friend, a parent, a significant other, or a voice inside us said it, we all have gotten the message at some point that we have no value.
Some of us have suffered from depression and self-hatred because of it. Some have hurt themselves to replace the pain of it or fallen prey to addiction to dull their ears to it. Some of us have even attempted suicide because we believed that voice was true and its words final.
But that voice is not the voice of God. It never is.
The Bible teaches that we have all been slaves to something that makes that voice sound so convincing: sin. This real urge within us to serve ourselves above all else – even when it hurts God and hurts others – is the kernel of truth that makes the lie of worthlessness sound so convincing.
It’s true that we sometimes don’t defend our friends when others attack their character because we are afraid we will be judged for it. It’s true we avoid our dying parents because we’re uncomfortable with their pain. It’s true we flirt with people or worse when our significant others aren’t around, because it feels better in the moment than the hard work of loving our partner.
We have all revealed ourselves to be slaves to this urge. We know it, which is why Satan’s voice so often succeeds in convincing us we have forfeited our value. The truth of our sin bolsters the lie that we will never be free of it … that we will never be worth anything.
God could not feel more differently about us.
It’s like we are up for sale in a slave market. Devils are bidding on us, and we are not surprised when they offer mere pennies for our purchase. But when God comes to the market and sees us on the block, standing in chains with our heads down in shame, He sees what others don’t. He sees what we don’t even see in ourselves.
He recognizes His own likeness in us.
Then He offers a price for us that is so high it stuns the crowd: the blood of His only Son. Some laugh when they hear this. Most are stunned to silence. They know that there is no one higher than God. They know He has all authority to determine the value of something. Someone.
Your value was set when God paid this unfathomable price, and that value is fixed for all eternity.
This is what the Apostle John meant when he wrote, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
We are worth more than a parent’s love for their child, more even than your love for your own children or for your friends or family. He loves each of us more than all the love all of humanity can muster when we are at our very best.
This is so hard to fathom, it is probably best described by the hymn, “The Love of God”:
“Could we with ink the ocean fill
And were the skies of parchment made …
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Though stretched from sky to sky”
Take a moment to listen to Chip share what silent words on a page can’t fully communicate. Your sin, your regret, everything people have said about you, everything you have said about yourself … it’s not the whole truth. God actually loves you more than an ocean of ink on a sky full of parchment could tell.
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