After The Valuation

We all need to know our value. You may scoff, but you still need to know your value. Genuine, correct valuation is based on what God has done for us. Since Jesus paid for us with his life, that must be how valuable we are.

With me so far?

So, okay, I am aware of my value because I see what God has done for me. I become more aware of my value as I see the various things that He is in the process of doing for me, and I see Him doing these things as I choose to submit to Him and His timing and His ways so that He is able to demonstrate that I am valuable to Him. I see this as I fail and see my goodness turn to ashes around me, and see Him nonetheless working on my behalf. I cease to work so that He can work.

But.

When I have become aware of my value, He will invariably call me to action.

The writer of Hebrews said that we are called to enter into His rest. There is a rest, and it is for you and for me. When we know our value, we can be free of insecurity, and Paul said that it was for the sake of freedom that we were set free. He doesn’t set us free from one box just to set us in another. There were many trees to choose from in that ancient garden, but only one was forbidden. The only thing God doesn’t want you messing with is your own efforts to attain value; once you’ve recognized your value, the world is your oyster.

We aren’t designed to sit around twiddling our thumbs. The original blessing of humanity was productivity and dominion over the rest of creation. Be fruitful! Make a difference in the world! Be a voice, and yes, even a force, against injustice! Set captives free! Multiply your freedom into thousands of other lives! (Just saying all that gets me fired up.)

The disciples were told to wait in Jerusalem until they’d received power—or, you might say, the evidence of God’s approval (valuation)—but after that they were to be fruitful and multiply. It would have been pointless for Jesus to send them out without the power of divine approval. (And if you doubt the Holy Spirit was a sign of divine approval, consider that when the Gentiles received the Holy Spirit, as evidenced by their speaking in other tongues, the apostles had to admit that God had accepted non-Israelites.) It was just as pointless, however, for them to receive that power and do nothing with it. When they chose to cling to the safety of themselves, God drove them out into the world by means of persecution.

We can do nothing of value until we know our own value.

Enjoy it.

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