Who Am I?

Post # 51

I would like to focus on what we are worth in God’s eyes.

When we are asked what we do for a living do we answer – “I am a – – – – name  the occupation or activity – – – -.” ?
Is our identity and sense of worth based on our occupation, or position in a family or an activity?
Or do we think of ourselves as a PERSON who does ‘X’ for a living?
What if we are under-employed, unemployed or retired? Do we then lose our identity and value when we lose something that important to us?

First and foremost we are persons. In God’s eyes all people are equal in worth and equally loved by him. He says that we are worth the price of his first born Son, who gave his life so we could live and have a more abundant life. Many of our young men and women have given their lives in battle so that we could live and have the freedoms we have.

A child first encounters love from its mother and then from its dad and siblings. The quality of this love and attention sets the scene for its development of self worth and self esteem.

See “How Can We Strengthen Children’s Self-Esteem? – by Lilian Katz – Here.

The abundant life that God promises is not in the physical realm only, but in the spiritual realm as well. He is concerned that we should have a right relationship with him and respectful relationships with each other.

The main scripture is from Matthew 16:24-26 –

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. 25 If you try to hang on to your (self-centered) life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life – (that way of life) – for my sake, you will save it. 26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?’ ” NLT. – (words in parenthesis by me)

I am reminded of the ‘bottom line’ emphasis of the ‘leaner and meaner’ global corporations whose unfettered greed led to the economic melt down a few years ago. The Book of Proverbs says that greed leads to poverty. I think the greedy get rich at the expense of others, who then become poor. Sometimes the poor get together and rise up to take back the money from the rich.
At any rate, human nature needs to have some regulations and boundaries within which to trade fairly,  for the overall good of the community.
God said it may not be easy, but even those whose value is attached to their wealth may come to him, if they let go of relying solely or primarily upon it and seek him first in their lives.

We may not be excessively rich in worldly goods, but we may have become tightly identified with our lifestyle and way of relating to other people.
I mean to say that we may be in the habit of measuring the worth of people by the status achieved in the work place or society at large.
Jesus said we need to let go of that sort of habit in order to have respectful relationships with others and with him, who made us all of equal worth.
So let us identify more with Jesus than with anything that can be taken away by changing circumstances. He promised to never leave us or forsake us.

~ ~ ~

Next let us consider how we develop self worth and self esteem.

Proverbs 22:6 says  “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” (NIV)

The New Living Translation states it  “Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.”

See “How Can We Strengthen Children’s Self-Esteem? – by Lilian Katz – Here.

The following is derived from some online research and from remembering personal experiences in a somewhat dysfunctional family that seems to fit the research.

The sense of self worth has been found to develop in children mainly prior to age 7, but seems to be open to modification depending on circumstances. Parents do not always provide an experience of unconditional love and acceptance for their children, probably because they didn’t experience it in their own upbringing. This produces a measure of frustration, pain and emptiness in a child’s heart.

A young child may develop a strong desire to discover ways to satisfy this emotional hunger and to ‘medicate’ or fix the pain that was produced. This desire usually results in activities that they hope will boost their sense of worth in their parents’ eyes. Ideally a child’s worth in their parents’ eyes is not dependent on performance, but they feel  worthy just because they are members of the family. Children may be unaware of how much they are loved apart from their behaviour, unless they are told about it – and experience it along with reassurance and respect.

At the same time parents are involved in teaching their children how to do things and want to see them improve, so, depending how it is carried on, parents may be perceived as being hard to please. Children may experience frustration at this point and begin to act out negatively in some fashion. It is incumbent on parents to observe and help their children to try different things and encourage them to pursue activities that they seem to be suited for.

When we respond to God’s call to have a relationship with him, we may desire to please him by “doing things for him to see” as we did as children to impress our parents.
In this imperfect world we all have some level of heart hunger and emotional pain which we endeavour to cope with and fix by various means. The most common of these devices is to base our sense of identity on our occupation, possessions and families. Also we may pursue enjoyment in a variety of areas to ease the pain – some good, and some not so good and some which can be addictive, such as food, alcohol and drugs.

As we go through life we tend to grow until we reach a plateau and pass certain milestones, and then we may begin to lose ground.
When the nest is empty and we have retired we may struggle with identity issues and feelings of low self worth. We then pass to a transition from providing services for others to requiring services from others.
It is understandable for us to feel a bit useless or worthless at times, since we aren’t able to make a contribution as we used to.
We need to make a change from the mind-set that connects self worth with behaviour and performance.
We need to realize and believe that each person has intrinsic value as a human being.
We can respect each other on this basis and therefore care-givers and care-receivers can experience mutual respect, and develop pleasant relationships with each other. Seniors often give encouragement to care givers.

This may not be so easy to do after the fact, but it is a worthwhile endeavor at any stage of life, especially during Passover and Easter time, when we are encouraged to examine and re-evaluate the basis of our quality of life on which we ultimately base our self worth.

When we consider God to be our parent we can get our self worth from him. He proved how much we are worth to him, because he paid the highest price of all to redeem us.

~ ~ ~

Next let us consider how God provides and cares for those who are struggling with confusion in the world.

Jesus leads us to repentance and faith, then he restores and heals our broken hearts.

Psalm 23:1-3 – “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures: he leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul: he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” KJV

Psalm 51:10-12 says – “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” NIV

Imagine yourself to be a lost sheep and the shepherd has been searching for you in the harsh wilderness for a long time. Finally he finds you and carries you back to the sheep fold. He begins to clean you up and put salve on your wounds. He makes you feel at home and reassures you that you are a valuable part of the herd and he is so happy to have you back. He restores you to health  and provides all your needs, so you always want to stay close to him. Other sheep will follow the shepherd or may meander off, but you will want to keep him in full view, because you remember what it was like to be lost in the wilderness.

Isaiah 61:1-3

“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion – to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.” NIV

Jesus proclaimed that he was the one that God would send to fulfill Isaiah’s Messianic prophecy, and he went on to demonstrate it by many signs and wonders. After his resurrection and the Day of Pentecost, his disciples began to confirm it as well, and we continue to confirm that Jesus is the Christ today, by what he is doing in us and through us.

Jesus was sent to bind up and heal the broken-hearted and to set them free from their captivity to darkness, by bringing the Light to them.
Also “to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion … a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.”

In the context of the time period prior to the second coming, I believe that the Church is the Zion referred to here.
In other words the church is the planting of God in the spiritual sense and God is involved in the process of restoring souls and making us into salt and light to the benefit of those around us, as well as for ourselves.

After Christ’s return, Zion / Jerusalem will be the headquarters of the Kingdom of God, which will bring peace to the whole earth.

Video “Who AM I?” – by Casting Crowns – Here.