The measure of our worth — Vivienne Solomons

Earlier this week, I had a conversation with a friend, who had recently joined a company. Our conversation centred around how she was settling into her new position and the fact that she felt she had made a poor impression. She summed the situation up by declaring it a “disaster”.

While this may have been an exaggeration on her part, she was clearly upset and so disappointed in herself, intent on taking full responsibility for the situation she found herself in.

In that moment, I recognised myself. It was not that long ago I was so eager to get off to the best start in a new company that I unknowingly pushed my needs (and that of my family) aside as I poured myself into the job, to make a good impression and prove my worth to the company. Only to be met with an attitude that, in my opinion, was not at all commensurate with the daily (unseen) sacrifices that I had made to get the work done.

There is, of course, nothing wrong with working hard and proving that we can do the job and produce great results. The problem arises when the employer is, for whatever reason, not satisfied with our work.

There may or may not be valid reasons for the employer’s dissatisfaction, but it becomes difficult to objectively respond to criticism when we have literally given our all to the job in the hopes of a different outcome. For many of us, our default is to blame ourselves for the situation, which isn’t necessarily the appropriate response. 

That’s when we know that we have tied our identity to our job and there is little to no separation between our personal identity and our work identity. The result? A life out of balance, which tends to lead to burnout, decreased productivity at work and perhaps even unhappiness at home and or at work. 

As believers, our worth as a person is not determined by what we do (or by what we own) but by who we are. More specifically, Whose we are. We are valuable to God. Period.

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul gives three reasons why we are so valuable to God:

• We are valuable because of who we are (Ephesians 1:4): We were chosen by God in love before the foundation of the world, and we are His children, created in His image.
• We are valuable because of what we cost (Ephesians 1: 6-7): We have been adopted into His family through the death of Christ, and through Whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sin.
• We are valuable because of who we can become (Ephesians 1: 11-12): He Who has chosen us, has a purpose for our lives, and though He accepts us as we are, does not leave us as we are, continually working in our lives to fulfil His plan.   

Surely, if God has placed such value on us, then we should place the same value on ourselves and live from that place, every day. Just as He intended.

See more: thenivbible.com/blog/valued-by-god

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