Is there ever a point where you have felt that you are unworthy?  Unworthy of someone else’s love, unworthy of the position you have at work, or unworthy to even be alive?  I think, if we’re honest with ourselves, most of us have experienced such moments.  But it can become a big problem if those moments of doubting our self-worth build to a point where we develop a deep-seated underlying doubt that affects our lives in a big way.

Perhaps you grew up in a home where your parents constantly berated you and told you that you were a screw-up, or that you were stupid, or un-wanted, or used some other form of put-down to undermine your self-worth.  Maybe it was a significant other who chipped away at your confidence slowly, over time, with their negative assessment of your person or your character, and eroded a once-healthy self-image.  Or possibly an accident or disease has robbed you of the physical or mental ability that you once had and you are now questioning your value and worth for the first time and don’t like the conclusion you’re coming to.

If for whatever reason, you are in a place where you think you aren’t worth much to anyone, I want to speak some truth very clearly and emphatically to you that you need to hear:  You are a beautiful and valuable human being, just as worthy of love as anyone who has ever lived, and you are filled with the potential to make this world a better place because you are here.  Don’t believe the lie that you hear in your head that you are washed up, un-loveable, incapable, or unworthy.  You are a beautiful creation of a loving God, and you have intrinsic and immutable worth and value.

“How can you be so sure,” you may ask.  “You don’t even know me.  You don’t even know what a screw-up I am, how ugly I am, or the horrible things I’ve done, or – fill in the blank.”

No, I don’t know those things about you.  But I do know something that’s true about all humans who were ever or will ever be created.  I do know that there is a God Who thinks that you are so worthy of love and affection that He decided to demonstrate it in the most powerful way imaginable.  I do know that a long time ago, this God looked down on humanity and saw what a mess we had all made of the wonderful gift of life he had given us, and instead of deciding to wipe us all off of the face of the earth, He decided to do something to save us.

Despite our failures, our imperfections, our anger, and hatred, He saw something worth saving.  Despite all of those things, He chose to remember who we were instead of what we could or could not do or had or had not done.  He chose to remember that we were His children.  And He chose to love us for that reason alone.  That choice makes us immensely valuable.  The fact that each of us holds a special place in the heart of God that no other person can fill – that we are a unique creation, loved by God – makes all of the difference.

So, start there.  Even if you don’t yet fully believe what I’m saying, even if you just feel a faint flicker in your heart that you wish what you just read were true – start with that.  But don’t stop there.  Take the time to dig a little deeper and examine the evidence.  You just might find out some truth that will change your life for the better. 

Finding our way home

We were never meant to go through this journey of life alone.  We were always meant to do so in tandem with a close spiritual connection with a loving and compassionate God.  But because of the mistakes we all make – the wrongs that we all commit – humanity chose its own way, rejecting our connection with God.  That mistake, made so long ago, has been passed down to us all through the succeeding generations. 

The Bible puts it this way:  “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).  The good news is that it doesn’t end there.  It goes on to say that we are “justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus…” (Romans 3:24).

Jesus – God incarnate – did what we could not do so that the relationship between God and humankind could be restored.  He did this so that we could live the way we were meant to live, having a close relationship with Him as we make our journey through life. 

How God demonstrated His love 

That sin that I mentioned before?  Those willful mistakes that separate us from God?  That had to be taken care of before the relationship with God could be restored. 

The Bible puts it this way:  “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord,” and, “…God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 6:23; 5:8).

The Bible goes on to tell us that after Jesus was crucified on a cross in order to pay the penalty for our sins, He was raised from the dead.  He then went back to heaven to prepare a place for all of those who choose to believe in Him, so that our souls can live with Him for eternity when our physical bodies die.

Because of our own sin, we owed a debt we could never pay.  Jesus paid that debt by living a sinless life and offering Himself as a sacrifice in payment for that debt so that our relationship with God could be restored.  All you need to do in order to receive forgiveness for your own sins and begin enjoying that close, personal relationship with God is to confess you are a sinner and acknowledge Who God is:

“…if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved…” (Romans 10:9).

Realizing your true value and worth

Those unworthy feelings we all have?  They aren’t telling us the truth.  They are telling us lies.  But the only way we can overcome those lies is by embracing the truth.  The truth is that God loves you and wants to have a close, personal relationship with you.  I encourage you to embrace this opportunity and let God remove those feelings of worthlessness for good.

Realize that changing our own, flawed perception of our value and worth takes time.  The negative voices banging around in our heads have created very real neural pathways in our brains that don’t necessarily disappear overnight.  We need to do our part to create new habits of thinking, new neural pathways.  We need to feed the truth into our brains so that it flushes out the lies.  So you may need to read this several times a week and other writings like this in order to jump-start the process.  I encourage you to do it. 

You are worth saving. 

You are worth loving. 

You are beautiful and valuable.

Have a blessed day,

C.L. Wells