We measure our worth on a daily basis. Did I do enough? Did I do it well enough? Will I ever be enough? Our worth is measured in social media likes and follows. We feed off the number of Facebook friends. We tell ourselves that if we are well-loved we have worth. The opposite scenario is painful. Rejection from others is devastating, because we believe our acceptance from others validates who we are.
In the past few years, God has been teaching me about what it really means to be loved. I have struggled as I have had one family member reject me and then part of my former church family. When you experience deep rejection and betrayal it takes time to recover and an understanding that you are loved. I have to admit that I have struggled with feelings of being unloved and consequently, worthless as I try to heal from the damage done.
And then, I came across these verses a week ago. I have read them a million times. I could probably quote them in part, but I never saw what I saw until last week...these verses speak to where our worth comes from...
"If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing." --I Corinthians 13:1-3
And there it is. Besides the fact, that we are loved by God, which I believe is the real reason we have worth, there is another way we have worth. It isn't about who loves us, but who and how we love. We have worth when we go out and love on others. I have felt like a loser because others around me had rejected me, but their rejection of me has nothing to do with my value. The fact I am loved by many or few has nothing to do with my worth. It is when I love that the self-worth comes.
A person can be great at what they do...successful, famous, popular. But if they can't love those in front of their face then they are nothing and truly gain nothing. So here is my challenge to you...if you are feeling unloved, spend some time in his Word to learn how much you really are cherished by Him. {Here's one way to do that.} And then, go out and love, because, after all, it isn't about how loved you are, but how you love others...
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