The Worth of a Person

KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA

 

ADMIN NOTE: My apologies – I needed to pull the earlier post today. I am so sorry for any confusion. If you are interested in what Siri Mitchell had to say, you may check out the comments on this post.

The world has many ways to size up a man and judge his “value” (and men often use these measuring sticks themselves, so do we as wives) by measuring:

  • The size of his paycheck
  • How cool his car is
  • How “hip” his clothes are
  • How cool his haircut is
  • Whether he owns a house or not
  • Whether he has a college degree and what college he attended
  • How well-kept his yard is
  • His neighborhood
  • His career
  • His popularity
  • The respect and admiration of his wife
  • How sexy he is
  • How sexy his wife is
  • What schools his children attends
  • His clubs/hobbies/social activities
  • What country he is from
  • His dialect
  • His aspirations
  • His friends
  • His activity level
  • His vacations
  • His mannerisms
  • How luxurious his home is
  • How much worldly power he has in his family, at work, at church, and in society
  • His weaknesses
  • His failures/mistakes
  • His bank account and retirement account

For women, the world may add even more parameters by which to measure us (our husbands may use some of these measuring sticks on us and we may judge ourselves and our own worth by some of these things, as well):

  • Her dress size
  • How sexy she is
  • Her hair
  • Her makeup
  • Her weight
  • Whether she is married
  • How well her figure matches up to a Barbie doll’s figure
  • How much her husband loves her
  • How much she believes her husband loves her
  • How her husband treats her
  • Whether she has children
  • How beautifully her home is decorated
  • How perfectly she keeps her house
  • How well-behaved her children are
  • How happy her children appear to be at any given moment

How does God measure and judge the worth of a person?

  • God created us, therefore we have great value.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27

  • Those who belong to Christ are God’s children!

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith,  for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:26-29

  • God judges us accurately and righteously by our heart, character, mind, and motives.

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” I Samuel 16:7

  • God made our bodies and our lives – and what He made is good.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:13-16

  • In God’s sight, people are of greater worth than animals. Animals are precious, but people are much more valuable in God’s economy.

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” Matthew 6:25-34

  • Yes we have weaknesses and frailties, but God is able to show His power through us in the midst of our weaknesses for His greatest glory. That is our primary purpose – to bring great glory to God even though we have little strength on our own!

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

  • Men and women are of equal value in the sight of God.  And we are to all be unified in Christ as believers. There are to be no divisions.

For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise. Galatians 3:27-29

  • God especially rewards those with a humble, contrite spirit.

But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6

For this is what the high and exalted One says— he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. Isaiah 57:15

  • God has a special heart for the poor, the oppressed, the orphans, the widows, and those who are unjustly persecuted.

And He will judge the world in righteousness; He will execute judgment for the peoples with equity. The LORD also will be a stronghold for the oppressed, A stronghold in times of trouble; And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, For You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.… Psalm 9:8-10

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

  • God is pleased when we come to Him in faith. That is how we can “impress” God – of course, He gives us the faith, we cannot even do that small thing ourselves.

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. Hebrews 11:6

  • God delights in those who reverence, trust, fear (in a healthy way) and obey Him.

But the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love. Psalm 147:11

  • Because of what Jesus has done for us, for those who are in Christ, we are free from any condemnation from God and we can have peace with God!

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh,  in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:1-4

  • In heaven, those of us who are in Christ will be glorified, honored, and exalted by God.

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. Romans 8:18

APPLICATION:

Let’s not judge our husbands (others, or ourselves) by the world’s external standards. Let’s ask God to give us His eyes to see, love, and bless people. Let’s have His perspective, His mind, His heart, His love, His wisdom, His Spirit, and His power!