When you think of your worth, what do you think about? Is worth how much you can make an hour or a year? Is worth how much you own? Is worth based on your credit scores? The meaning of the word worth is “monetary value”. In some cases the word can be used to describe your future value or an estimate of your potential to earn. In reality true worth is what someone is willing to pay for something. Worthy is having worth or value. The way to determine if a person is worthy is to determine their worth; what someone is willing to pay.
How much you earn, or your earning potential is based on how much someone can make from your labor, or what value your labor adds to a project. In some ways that sounds like what someone is willing to pay. But they are only renting your time to profit from the use of your time. That does not truly define your worth, because others are benefiting from your value – removing a portion of the value before paying you. So what you make does not determine your worth.
How much you own is not a true measure of worth, because the value placed on the things you own does not reflect their true monetary value. The monetary value of your possessions is what you can sale or trade them for, and that varies based on the current financial environment. The estimated value of homes has gone down over the past few years. The tax man claims the value of most homes is a lot higher than what most buyers are willing to pay. You might value something for the price you paid for it, while the item’s value has devalued or inflated.
This is not an economics lesson, so please do not send me accounting formulas for estimating costs and depreciated values. The intent of the information is to show that worth depends on perspective. My house is worth more to me than the market claims it is worth. My wife and children are worth more than their earning potential; and so are all my family and my friends, and so is a stranger. What are they worth? They are worth the price someone was willing to pay for them. They are worth the Son of God. That is the highest price ever offered for them.
God sent His Son, because He loved the world. Our worth is not based on what we are made out of, or what we can earn, or what we own. “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:12b). Our worth is based on what was paid for our freedom from death, doubt, and worry. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain for us, to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing. So what is our worth? Who isn’t worthy of God’s love?
© 2010 Tim D. Coulter Sr.