How to Know Your Worth

Know your worth! 

This is a common phrase in culture today! 

Yet, as much as I see these words brought up, I hardly ever see them lived out.  

We are told to know that we are worth so much, and then we are treated like we are nothing special at all.  

They say we are all like diamonds, but the media will have us giving ourselves away to everyone for free one day and the next day, telling us to change every part of us because we are not enough just as we are.  

We find ourselves selling ourselves for cheap or buying whatever they are selling to make us better versions of ourselves.  

We are living in confusing times! 

Striving for approval from a world that says “accept everyone” in the same post that they tear apart those who don’t do everything the way they do. 

It begs the question… 

Does my worth change when the opinions of me change? 

Because knowing your worth is a neutral statement. 

When they like my outfit of the day on Monday, does that mean I know I am worth a lot on Monday? 

What about when they don’t like my body shape on Tuesday… Does that mean I know my worth is little?  

It sure does feel like it!  

On the days I look like a good Christian and I work diligently, love my family well, read my Bible for a whole hour and actually feel excited in what I am learning…  

This makes me feel worth a whole lot!  

Then the following day, when I sleep in, get frustrated with my family, read my Bible for 15 minutes and don’t feel goosebumps afterwards…  

This makes me feel like I am of no value to the Kingdom of God.  

So, I realized something that I want to share with you. 

Knowing your worth is of little importance if your worth changes everyday.  

No wonder we strive for approval everyday and never feel like we are good enough!  

One day we are valuable and the next we are worthless.  

What is true?  

What am I worth? 

Here is how you can determine what you are worth!  

Decide who or what determines your worth. 

If my worth is determined by what Instagram declares valuable, well… lets just say… I will never be good enough. 

If my value is in what my coworkers, boss, family, friends even spouse, say about me… then I will be on a rollercoaster of emotions! 

My worth will be innumerable one day but the next day I will be useless.  

That is just how it is with people, because people are not perfect and neither are we.  

we all have days of loving well and days of being selfish. Days of seeing the best in others and days of feeling like everyone is failing to care for us how we want them to.  

If my job title determines my worth, then missing one deadline classifies me as a failure and not being chosen for a promotion has me striving everyday to prove that I am valuable. 

If we choose people or media or status to determine our worth, we will never be at a steady level of worth. 

We will feel valuable for one day and soon after, we will be striving for the feeling of validation we felt when we did everything right.  

No one can know their worth if it is so unstable.  

So, we need to plant our worth on solid ground, that doesn’t shift when the wind comes. 

We love the feeling of the world’s approval but we cannot avoid the haters that will inevitably come. 

So, we need to be so firmly set in our worth, that when the haters come to remind us that we are still not as valuable as we could be, we can remain at peace, in the knowledge of our unshakable worth! 

To do this, we need to remember this one thing! 

If you remember this one thing, it could change your whole life! 

I know this, because It changed mine!  

I will tell that story another time…  

You are a masterpiece, a priceless creation… 

Please know…  

The creation NEVER determines it’s own worth. 

Think about it! 

No painting or sculpture ever got up and strived for approval! 

Artwork never let what people said about them, make them either hang themselves on a wall or throw themselves in a fire! 

That is not your responsibility either! 

You know why? 

Because you never created you, so it is NOT your responsibility to prove your worth! 

Since you are a work of art, let’s approach understanding this by examining the masterpieces that artists create. 

Did you know? 

Artists who became wildly successful and well-known, started their career receiving the most negative criticism. 

One of my favorite examples of this is Vincent Van Gogh. 

Van Gogh’s work was seen as worthless for the entirety of his life. He sold one painting in his lifetime for a price that would tell you just how worthless the painting really is. 

Out of nine-hundred paintings, only one was purchased! 

Yet, today we recognize Vincent Van Gogh’s masterpieces as truly that! They are all worth well over sixty-million dollars and we acknowledge Van Gogh as one of the most gifted artists of all time!  

Here is the crazy part; his paintings never changed! 

He died believing his work was worth breadcrumbs! 

He never changed them to make other people like them. 

Even his own brother didn’t like his artwork! 

If the art never changed…  that would mean that Van Gogh’s nine-hundred completed paintings, that nobody deemed worthy of even sixty cents… 

were always worth over sixty-million dollars! 

So when Van-Gogh painted them and everyone thought they were not worth much, they were still million-dollar paintings! 

Everyone had something negative to say about Van Gogh’s art and that could’ve stopped him from painting; however, he still chose to paint nine-hundred unsuccessful paintings! 

People were in the very presence of masterpieces yet since their eyes didn’t see what the artist saw, they didn’t recognize the value! 

Is it possible that God has this same tragic story in regards to His artwork… you and me? 

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” 

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1:1‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ 

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”  

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2:10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬  

“All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” 

‭‭John‬ ‭1:3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬  

“Thus says God the LORD, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, Who gives breath to the people on it, And spirit to those who walk on it:”   

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭42:5‬ ‭NKJV‬‬  

““You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.””  

‭‭Revelation‬ ‭4:11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬   

Who are we to criticize?  

We are in the very midst of God’s masterpieces yet we call them worthless.  

“Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”  

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1:31‬ ‭NKJV‬‬   

God approved of what He made! 

The Artist thought it was all good! 

If the Artist thinks it’s good, that’s all that matters! 

He knew value when He made His work! 

Just as Van Gogh wouldn’t have made nine-hundred paintings that nobody liked, unless he believed that they were valuable! 

Van Gogh knew something that the people didn’t know! 

As does our Artist. 

“I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.   

My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.  

 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.  

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!   

If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.”   

We have no idea what real art is!  

Yet we think we have the right to speak our opinion about the art…  

We are not even criticizing the art…  

we are criticizing the Artist!   

“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”  

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1:27‬ ‭NKJV‬  

Van Gogh’s paintings had no choice but to be what Vincent painted. When people disliked Vincent Van Gogh’s work, the paintings were not offended, Vincent Van Gogh was!  

Perhaps we don’t understand that when we criticize ourselves or criticize others, we are not insulting ourselves or the people at all, we are insulting the Artist who made us! 

Every time we voice our opinion and not God’s opinion about ourselves and about others, 

we are speaking to God’s undeniable masterpiece as if they were worthless breadcrumbs. 

Nevertheless, like with Van Gogh’s masterpieces, 

Our opinion doesn’t change the fact that what God made is priceless and more to be treasured than we could comprehend! 

So though we think we can discredit the masterpiece with our opinion or the devil thinks he can have you believe you’re worth breadcrumbs, 

it doesn’t change the truth! 

God’s work is still precious! 

beyond measure! 

The only One who gets insulted is God! 

However, though it is an injustice, that you drag God’s work through the mud, He knows the truth and He IS the truth so it doesn’t change God’s demeanor. 

He stays the same and it doesn’t stop Him from creating and valuing what He creates! 

““For I am the LORD, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.”  

‭‭Malachi‬ ‭3:6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬  

““God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”  

‭‭Numbers‬ ‭23:19‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ 

“The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.””   

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭40:8‬ ‭NKJV‬‬  

If God’s word stands forever, what does He say about His masterpiece … us?  

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”  

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2:10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬  

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 

‭‭II Corinthians‬ ‭5:17‬ ‭NKJV‬‬  

“But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” 

‭‭Luke‬ ‭12:7‬ ‭NKJV‬‬  

If our Artist sees us as immeasurably valuable… 

why does what the critics say matter? 

Likewise, if God values us all, why would my judgmental opinion matter of another person? 

even if that person did me wrong. 

Van Gogh, saw immense value in what everyone else saw as worthless. 

It didn’t change the fact that Van Gogh painted masterpieces that were always worth a fortune, whether people agreed or not at the moment. 

God created you PRICELESS! 

and whether you believe it right now or not, 

the opinion of the One who created you is the ONLY true definition of your worth.