Who determines your worth?


The world tells us that we aren't worth anything if we aren't beautiful by the world's standards and I think we all know what those are. You can't even watch the news without seeing commercials promoting some new beauty product or service. The most recent one that is quite hilarious to one member of my family (Ben) is fat sculpting by freezing the fat. I'm not sure what he finds so funny but I hope he keeps that attitude about superficial beauty. He has taught me that children don't see beauty the same way a lot of adults out in the world do, at least for Ben, he sees the beauty of the heart. Yes, they do see beauty in the outward appearance too but think about the kind of people that children are drawn to.. is it the gorgeous person with a nasty attitude?

"Do not let your adornment be merely outward - arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel - rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God." I Peter 3: 3-4

My point is that the world typically regards people who are physically attractive or have some great talent (acting, sports, etc.) as the most worthy. God doesn't. The Lord looks at our innermost being. Yes, he created us and we are unique and wonderfully made, but, our outward appearance isn't the most important to the Lord. He looks in our hearts.

"I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well." Psalms 139:14

I have taught elementary, middle, and high school students and I've found one common factor among the girls - the goal to be seen as cute, beautiful, etc. Many are basing their worth on what others think of them and it's devastating to find out that someone doesn't like them. Hurtful comments sink in and come back to haunt them years later. I know, I spent years doubting my worth based upon the world's standards.  What are we doing to ourselves and more importantly, what are we teaching our future generation of women? Are we teaching them to put the most time and effort into their outward appearance or to spend most of their time with the Lord?

It has taken me years to years to figure out my worth. I've let others determine my worth and it only led to discouragement and hurt. Let's let the Lord determine our worth and build us up instead of the world. Let's teach our daughters, nieces, etc. that their worth isn't determined by those hurtful comments, those ads in magazines, that boy in class....BUT that the Lord made her as a unique work of art, something precious in His sight and in the sight of those who follow Him wholeheartedly.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Falling Away

" Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons" I Timothy 4:1 It seems like I've heard people talk about the great "falling away" of believers for a really long time, at least since my teenage years when I began to understand what that meant. The Lord has really laid this upon my heart. My dad is a retired pastor and we've had discussions about the "falling away" many times. It's a time when even believers will turn away from the Truth and it's a sign of the end times. In the past few years I've heard more and more people say we are in the midst of the "falling away." I've really been thinking about that lately, I don't disagree that we could be in the midst of it...it's just that I feel like believers in the church are using it as an excuse to stop ministering to people. I've seen many churches put an end to certa...
Read more

This earthly place is not my home...

“For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” II Corinithians 5:1 It seems as though my husband and I have been on a never ending search for “home.” We spent the first years of our marriage outside of the Lord’s will for our life. (I use the singular term for life here because I believe that when you marry the person that the Lord created for you, you live a “life.” You are bound together and no longer lead separate lives.) The Lord had to break us because we were stubborn, we still are but more so stubborn to do the Lord’s will for our life. We know what it’s like to live outside of the will of God and it’s not something we would wish upon anyone. Through the broken times in our life, my husband heeded the Lord’s call to preach. In our naïve minds, we thought we would go right into pastoring a church. Boy, were we wrong. Five years later and we are still waiting, having grow...
Read more