The words “self worth” surfaced in one of my conversations with HweeYen, and at that moment both of us were able to relate to how there were times when our self worth suffered. There wasn’t any continuation on that subject in our conversation, but I am still thinking about it a few days after. And what better way to clear one’s mind but to put it down on .. paper. Well, sorta.
As per title, worth as I see it … comes from two sides. First, is external worth. I understand that in saying external worth, the misunderstanding of it being the value a person gives based on appearance and outlook might arise, but I am not here to evaluate what people see on the outside/external and the worth of which is birthed from that perspective. By saying external worth, I am referring to the worth that is given by an external source based on what a person should/would truly be valued. Which brings us to the question of ..
How should a person be valued?
Is it about appearance? I wouldn’t deny that it would have some effect upon a person’s valuation, but it definitely isn’t THE ONLY worth that a person should be given. It would be detrimental to people who aren’t outwardly beautiful in the eyes of many, or have some form of physical disfigurement. Though I’d have to mention that there are people in these world who live to obtain these kind of given worth. Those who display their bodies and sell their “assets” just to obtain that sense of worth would sadly end up with a misconstrued perspective of self worth.
That was how NOT to value a person. This, is what I feel a person should be valued and given self worth upon:
Inner beauty
Beauty, usually associated with women becomes a unisexual term I suppose, when describing the inner being of a person. It’s the character, the personality, the thoughts and its patterns, the maturity, the experience, the spirit of the person. These are the aspects of which I feel a person should be given worth upon. Not only the good traits, but even bad ones too. Not that bad traits are taken as good, or a condemning stand is taken against them but the manner of which the person handles his/her bad sides would definitely speak magnitudes of his/her maturity. I don’t know any famous quote to support that statement, but I’m sure it speaks for itself.
And then there’s the internal worth that a person gives to his/her self. The question then, could be formulated this way:
How much do you think YOU are worth?
People who have low self-confidence would naturally value themselves lowly and people who ooze with charisma and assurance of themselves would score high on the share market. I suppose there’s also the danger here where a person values him/her self too lowly, or too highly. Having too high an opinion of yourself is as bad as having too low an opinion of yourself, I heard from a pastor.
Romans 12:3,”For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.”
God’s worth for us
As I begin to think about how much my own self worth is worth, I realize that while the external and internal worth given to an individual is valuable and of some effect, it’s how much God values us that really supercedes everything. That’s a kind of self worth given by God that should never ever suffer, because all of it has been written in the Bible. How before we were conceived, God had thoughts of us, how God knows the amount of hair we have in our heads, how we were all fearfully and wonderfully made. So many assurances of our position, status in Christ in the Bible. I don’t have time to elaborate, sorry.
In closing, I’d like to share the challenge I have for myself, and I hope that you’d be challenged too. I feel like I have not been giving worth to everyone around me [and for those who have felt that way about me, I am truly sorry and I hope that you'll find grace to forgive me], and that God’s challenging me to do just that. To give worth to people. Not just people that I like, or like being around with, or .. are worthy of giving worth to but to everyone that I cross paths with. There are just so many people out there who needs to be given worth, and maybe that worth that’s given to them would help them build their internal self worth too. Maybe then, ultimately they’ll come to know of the worth that God has given to them. That’s how I see it.
I hope this has blessed you. Leave a comment, if it has/hasn’t.
David[hmm]
Recent Comments