Monday April 20, 2020

Your Daily Dose of Inspiration:

Genesis 1:26-31 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (27) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (28) And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (29) And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. (30) And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. (31) And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

You are likely familiar with the phrase, “Diamonds are forever.” The phrase was developed by a marketing team for the De Beers diamond company in the 1930’s. The goal was to make diamonds seem more valuable than they actually are. The De Beers company had a virtual monopoly on the diamond market, so they artificially restricted the supply while convincing the consumers that the best way to express your love to a significant other was through the gift of a diamond. This effective business scheme drove the price of diamonds far above their actual value, netting the company billions. Meanwhile, we became convinced that diamonds had an intrinsic value and were worth the extraordinary prices we have paid. The truth is, however, that diamonds have no intrinsic value. They are only expensive because of clever marketing and artificial restriction. The only value a diamond has is what you are willing to pay.

Sadly, that is the way many people view their own worth. Their value is determined only by what people are willing to pay into them; in affirmation, time, attention, and love. When treated well, they esteem themselves valuable. When they are treated as worthless, then they think of themselves as worthless. When treated with contempt, they view themselves as contemptable. Those who understand their worth only in terms of external affirmations, will spend most of their life disappointed and under the assumption that they are of little value. But this measure is not a true expression of their worth. It is impossible to have an accurate view of oneself when the scales are all set with artificial and false weights. No one can be correctly assessed by the acceptance and adulation of people. Our true worth can only be judged by a standard which does not change, does not lie, and has the capacity to understand all things. The true value of a person is not identified by the temporal standards of this world, but by the everlasting wisdom and power of God.

Our opening passage shows, right at the beginning, the intrinsic value of human beings as established by the Creator Himself. The Lord had created all the Earth and everything in it by the command of His Word, but man He created in His image. In the very likeness of God are we created, and thus are given intrinsic worth. I have used this word a few times, so let us be clear about what it means. Intrinsic means, “essential, and belonging naturally”. It something which is a part of your nature and cannot, by any means, be removed. Your value, as a person, is immovable and unchangeable. If we would look to God for our true worth, then we would not devalue ourselves by dancing to whatever tune the world is playing. We would not be beholden to any person, or any people to know that our life is significant. Instead, if we establish ourselves in the truth of God, we will be free from the need for the approval of others, and confident in our own value. If you want your worth expressed by the amount paid for you, than you need look no further than the Lord Jesus. For He indeed paid a high price for you.

1Corinthians 7:23 You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men.

-Jared Freeman, “Intrinsic Worth”