Look Up

I’ve seen this fairly often and it always makes me laugh. You see this chick (normally it’s always a girl) with some good hair and she’s walking like she owns this world. She’s struttin’ her stuff. Her laughter reaches far and wide and her smile is just as big. The energy level emanating from her is awe-inspiring.

But then some other time she’ll be having a bad hair day, and the difference is noticeable. She’s more timid and less energetic. Her laugh becomes more nervous. She’s subdued and reserved.

All this because of… hair? Seriously?

While it’s entertaining for me, it hits at something deeper.

Let’s Talk about Worth

Worth is a person’s security blanket. It’s what we run to when we are having a bad day. It’s what gets us up in the morning. It’s what we are proud of and what we point to so we can say, “Hey look! I matter.”

It can be anything, really. Some people look to their beauty and say, “Oh yeah, I got stuff you can only dream about.” Some people look at their athletic abilities and say, “I can do everything you can do… five times faster.” Some people point to their intelligence and say, “You’re taking that class this year? I took it in kindergarden.”

What we find our worth in is also our greatest insecurity. If you took that thing away, we wouldn’t feel like we are worth much.

Where Do You Find Your Worth?

Some people look at themselves and say, “If I could only change this about myself, I would be something. If I could only do this, people would notice me.” For some, it’s a pretty face they desire. For others, it’s a mistake-free life. Whatever we chase to complete us, it will ultimately fail to satisfy.

I feel bad for saying this, but there will always be someone who is better than you in some way. Someone out there is richer, more attractive, smarter, funnier, athletic, skilled, charming, etc. No one has it all. If someone was everything, there would be someone out there who was better than that person.

What about you? What matters the most?

Yeah Yeah Yeah… Jesus…

Now I know you are probably rolling your eyes. “Okay, Nate, just tell me to run to Jesus for worth and then everything will be okay. What you don’t know is that Jesus hasn’t taken away my ugliness, weight, clumsiness, broken family, past… any of it. No thanks.”

That’s just the thing, Jesus won’t always take those thing from you. His job isn’t to make sure you have a comfy, cushy life. No, He’s aiming for something infinitely more important: your eternity.

Let’s run through the list of things that happened to Jesus (and this was Mr. Perfect Himself): 1) beatings, 2) torture, 3) death on the cross, 4) mocked, 5) betrayed, 6) abandoned, 7) doubted, 8) jailed, 9) hated, 10) I’m sure if I thought about this more, I could come up with other things.

I’ll tell you this straight up, Jesus didn’t go through this so you could have a dandy life. He sure didn’t have one, and this was God Himself. Now let’s go to Paul the Apostle and see what happened to him. Maybe things got better! Haha, just kidding:

1) Beaten (several times), 2) ship-wrecked, 3) snake-bitten, 4) jailed, 5) stoned, 6) left for dead after being stoned, 7) chased by authorities, 8) you get the picture. And this was one of the greatest Christians to have ever lived.

You see, when you run to Jesus, you aren’t running to a genie. Odds are He won’t make everything bad magically disappear (though, if He does, wonderful!). But when you look to Him for your worth, you are going to find someone who understands what it’s like to be physically hurt and emotionally betrayed. The Bible says Jesus wasn’t the most attractive man (Isaiah 53:2), so if that’s you struggle with, He knows what that’s like, too. He didn’t ever have much money. Jesus was a nobody, basically.

What Are You Going to Do?

We all struggle with worth and insecurity. That’s never going to end while we are living. However, it can be greatly minimized (and almost forgotten) depending on where we find our worth. To be blunt, you aren't going to be good-looking forever. Or athletic. Or smart. Or rich.

We all go the grave the same way we came into the world: with nothing. So instead of looking for worth in things that won’t last physically, look to your future. Look to your eternity. Look up.

When do that, you’ll find someone waiting for you who truly understands you. He’s been through it all. And He loves you.

#Worth #AQCFaith #AQCCulture