How Much Are You Worth?

When something is valuable, we are ultimately giving it a price tag. Usually this price tag is based on perhaps it’s usefulness or functionality. Perhaps whether it is in fashion or trending at the moment, how common or rare it is to find, the quality of the product. Usually when we are at the shop, we judge the value of a product by looking at it’s price tag. If it’s expensive, then it must be of high quality and a very valuable item. If it’s cheap, then we don’t consider it to be very valuable and perhaps easily replacable.

Are You Valuable?

OK, so now that we have a basic understanding of the term ‘value’ and ‘valuable’ and before you read any further, stop for a moment and answer the following question: do you consider yourself to be valuable? If you were to measure your own self-worth, where would you sit on the scale? And how are you measuring it? Is it based on your accomplishments in life? Is it maybe the amount of money you have in your bank account? Maybe you base your value on the way you look – your million dollar smile or your pretty curls… or is your value based on your skew teeth and your big ears? Perhaps you have an important position at your work or maybe in your church and a lot of people depend on you? Or is your value based on your popularity amongst your friends and family – are you trending at the moment?

It’s been said that women tend to find their self-worth in their husbands and that men tend to find their self-worth in their work. Is this true?

Well, men, in terms of work and accomplishments, this is what Ellen White has to say on the matter:

Let not the idea prevail for a moment that a man’s power to command high wages is a measure of his value in the sight of God as a worker. In the eyes of the world a man’s value is estimated by, “How much is he worth in property?” But heaven’s books register his worth in proportion to the good he has accomplished with the means he has had entrusted to him.

2SM 193.1

Do you remember the parable Jesus told about the ten talents? You can find it in Matthew 25. The servants in the parable were expected to use their talents wisely and not bury them in the ground. In the same way, we also should use the gifts that God has given each one of us to do good and to grow spiritually. This is how God measures man’s true value as a worker.

And what about women searching for value in a relationship?

The heart yearns for human love, but this love is not strong enough, or pure enough, or precious enough, to supply the place of the love of Jesus. Only in her Saviour can the wife find wisdom, strength, and grace to meet the cares, responsibilities, and sorrows of life. She should make Him her strength and her guide. Let woman give herself to Christ before giving herself to any earthly friend, and enter into no relation which shall conflict with this.

5T362.3

Only God loves us perfectly. We are humans and we will always make mistakes and others around us will too. Find your value in Christ alone. Which brings me to the next question:

Does God Think you are Valuable?

In Psalms 8:4, David asks why God cares about us. ‘…what is man, that thou art mindful of him?‘ Adam Clarke (a British Methodist Theologian living in the 17-1800’s) said that man is nothing but ‘sin and dust‘. Sin and dust. To me, that doesn’t seem like something very valuable.

But the Bible tells us that each one of us has a price tag. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 1:18 that the price on your price tag is not in the currency of gold or silver. If it were in gold or silver, how easy it would have been for God to purchase your salvation! Why? Because Haggai 2:8 tells us that God owns all the gold and silver in the world! No, as a sinner, you could only be paid for with the precious blood of the Son of God. WOW. What a sacrifice.

The value of a soul, who can estimate? Would you know its worth, go to Gethsemane, and there watch with Christ through those hours of anguish, when He sweat as it were great drops of blood. Look upon the Saviour uplifted on the cross. Hear that despairing cry, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34). Look upon the wounded head, the pierced side, the marred feet. Remember that Christ risked all. For our redemption, heaven itself was imperiled. At the foot of the cross, remembering that for one sinner Christ would have laid down His life, you may estimate the value of a soul. 

AG 175.2

The only way to measure your true value is to meditate on what happened at Gethsemane and Calvary. To understand the hours of anguish and stress our Saviour went through as he sweated those drops of blood at Gethsemane. Mocked. Shamed. Wounded. Forsaken. Betrayed. Would it even be good enough? For you and you alone He would have laid down His life. WOW. Only after meditating on these things, can we truly begin to understand the value that God sees in YOU.

In ascending order, this is what a saved soul is worth, according to Ellen White’s writings:

One soul saved, to live throughout the ages of eternity, to praise God and the Lamb, is of more value than millions in money. 2T 246.1

One soul is worth more than all the gold and silver that could be heaped up on this earth. TDG 271.2 (All the gold in the world is currently valued at 13.7 trillion USD and all the silver in the world is currently worth 1.3 trillion USD. Together this comes to 15 trillion USD.)

One soul for whom Christ has died is worth more than the whole world. OHC 98.4

One soul saved in the kingdom of God is worth more than ten thousand worlds like this. RH April 1, 1880, par. 1

One soul is of infinite value. GW92 337.1

Yes, you are Valuable!

Don’t ever think that you are worthless – God doesn’t make junk! Why would he die on the cross for something of little value? No, He has bought us Himself. He has paid your price tag. You belong to Him. Zechariah 2:8 tells us you are the apple of His eye. He delights in YOU.

Jesus loves you, and He has given me a message for you. His great heart of infinite tenderness yearns over you. He sends you the message that you may recover yourself from the snare of the enemy. You may regain your self-respect. You may stand where you regard yourself, not as a failure, but as a conqueror, in and through the uplifting influence of the Spirit of God. Take hold of the hand of Christ, and do not let it go

DG 142.2

Yes, Romans 8:37 tells us that in Jesus we are more than conquerors! With God, all things are possible! (Matthew 19:26) God has given you gifts. Use and develop these gifts to serve Him.

Many who are qualified to do excellent work accomplish little because they attempt little. Thousands pass through life as if they had no great object for which to live, no high standard to reach. One reason for this is the low estimate which they place upon themselves. Christ paid an infinite price for us, and according to the price paid He desires us to value ourselves. 

MH 498.3

Are You Willing?

God can do amazing things with anyone who is willing. He used fishermen and tax collectors to be His disciples and to be the leaders in the church. He can use you too. He believes your soul is of infinite value. The more time you spend with God, the more you will start to see the world the way He sees it. Open your eyes. Take a look around you. God places this same value on each person on this planet. This same, deep love that Christ has for you, is the kind of love that we need to have for others.

If you are in communion with Christ you will place His estimate upon every human being. You will feel for others the same deep love that Christ has felt for you. Then you will be able to win, not drive, to attract, not repulse, those for whom He died…. The greater their sin and the deeper their misery, the more earnest and tender will be your efforts for their recovery. You will discern the need of those who are suffering, who have been sinning against God, and who are oppressed with a burden of guilt. Your heart will go out in sympathy for them, and you will reach out to them a helping hand.

AG 175.3

Remember, you have been bought with the precious blood of Jesus your Saviour. Your worth is immeasurable – it cannot be measured. And your personal purpose is to use the unique gifts God has given you to bring glory to Him and to advance His work. Love others the same way that God has loved you. Lead them to Christ and help them to recognize their soul’s infinite worth as well. May this be the prayer of each of our hearts and the mission of each of our lives as we strive to reflect His love and grace in all that we do.

If you’ve been uplifted by this post, please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below. Let’s encourage, support and inspire each other to grow closer to Christ, and to live out His love in our daily lives!

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