How worthless are you?

If the things you do are a measure of how much you are worth, then the answer must be at a minimum... not much. Unless your an expert, then you make fewer mistakes, so you'd be worth a bit more but still not much. You did a great job on something so you must be worth a lot more, or you get paid a lot of money, or is it fame... well, that's all a bit deceiving because when you die either someone else gets your stuff or it is thrown out with the trash. Oh that's got to hurt... your life's work gone in the trash.

Be honest, all the self esteem stuff that goes around doesn't make anyone any happier. Some might be delusional and think they have it made and thus are happy. Some of the richest and most famous people are the most miserable, constantly trying to get approval from others by appearing to be something they are not. How many people seek out self improvement and self help? It's a popular subject that produces a lot of books and speakers who want to tell you that you are worth something.

Do you have an education? Sure... you could say the value is how much you spent on education, but then if you learnt how to design transistor radios your education might be a bit... uhmmm... outdated... that's just a kind way of saying obsolete.. and unless your vintage enough to be collectible it is safe to say not worth much.

And as we know, obsolete means scrap value is about all you'll get from recycling. The chemicals that comprise your body are probably worth about One dollar and the hide (your skin) is worth maybe Four dollars, but with the price of commodities always fluctuating so the average person might be worth between Three and Five dollars.

But what are you worth to God? Or some would say is there even a "god"... so then what is your value? If there is no "god" then your value and worth is rather vague, but could be summed up in what was mentioned above about chemicals and education, status, etc.

From the Heidelberg Catechism's Lord's Day 1 we have 2 questions;

Question 1. What is thy only comfort in life and death?

Answer. That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ; who, with his precious blood, hath fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto him.

Question 2. How many things are necessary for thee to know, that thou, enjoying this comfort, mayest live and die happily?

Answer. Three; the first, how great my sins and miseries are; the second, how I may be delivered from all my sins and miseries; the third, how I shall express my gratitude to God for such deliverance.

What do these questions and answer say? Does it not speak to our fears of self worth when we ask what our comfort is in this life.... that is.. what is it we treasure in our day to day life? As it is said, where our treasure is that is where our heart is. Our yearnings and desires to be accepted and approved of, to be wanted. If our heart has been moved to believe that we do belong to God then no longer is our worth on what we regard as valuable things that simply perish, are stolen, rust away, or sold off. That a God would pay for our failures and preserve us from destruction speaks to our value and worth.

But to be valued we must also see our own worthlessness in our sins and misdeeds. And often we see only our failures and mistakes, believing ourselves to be worthless and without value at all. Some will seek to fill that with psychological manipulations or with smooth talking motivational speakers that feed the soul with a bread that does not last. Again we go hungry and become tired when the weight of humanness bears down again.

It is when we see our sins for what they are and hear of the forgiveness of those sins through what Christ's death accomplished that are we set free from that burden. No longer are we worthless but bought with a price. We know what are worth and value truly are then, and no longer need to doubt and fear the ravages of decay. Christ has set us free, free from captivity. And in that freedom we can finally live to God's glory.

The Heidelberg questions and answers come from public domain documents.