Identity as a human

I've been thinking a lot lately about who we as humans are.  More accurately, I've been thinking about where we look to find out who we are.  I've found there are many sources of identity we can look to: family, popular culture, money, sex, power, etc.  Some of the sources may seem more innocent than others.  What is wrong with finding our identity in family?  The problem I've found lies at the root of what we're looking for when we seek out our identity.   We're looking to different places to tell us how much we're worth.
 
Sometimes that source will tell us we are worth a whole lot.  Take business for example.  Let's say all of your life you've wanted to be a businessman.  And now you got hired and you're shadowing a high profile executive.  You help him and your company acquire businesses and you're excelling at helping him make your company grow like it's never grown in it's history despite how young you are.  The business is surely going to inundate you with accolades in addition to your high paycheck and bonuses.  It's really easy to find worth in your thriving reputation.  It's all about succeeding and chasing your dreams, right?

Maybe you're not a businessman, but rather a mom who goes out of her way to be warm and welcoming to everyone while you raise your kids.  People thank you for your hospitality when they leave your well-kept home and always comment on how they love to go over to your house for get-togethers.  You love your husband and he loves you.  You have your arguments, but your marriage is still strong.  Your kids whine and complain from time to time, but overall they're pretty well behaved.  It's all about having a great family, right?

Or maybe you don't fit into either of those situations.  Maybe you're just trying to get along in this life.  You've realized this life is hard and it's not always fun.  In fact, it's often one problem after another.  You deal with this stress pretty well, at least on the outside.  People know that you've had a rough time of it with no end in sight.  You thrive on refusing their pity and instead finding your own way.  Who needs their charity?  You're strong enough.  Your strength will get you through, right?

Is this what it's all about?  Is that where our worth comes from?  I certainly hope not because those things can all change at a moment's notice.  Each of these situations is like a tight-rope walker.  Even a small gust of wind could knock them off to their demise.  What if the young businessman doesn't meet his projections and get fired from the business?  What if the mom's husband leaves her?  What if the life of the down-and-out gets too hard to handle?  Suddenly, the worth that each of these people found in their life is gone.

There is, however, a source of worth that doesn't change.  The source of this worth is, of course, Jesus Christ.  Through Jesus, all things were made, including humans.  In that process of creation, God put an inherent value - one that couldn't be added to or taken away.  We are worth something to the God of the universe simply because he made us.  Simply because we are human.  If the God of the universe thinks we have worth, then that's enough for me.

Let's go back to those three examples.  The success the young businessman experienced wasn't bad.  In fact, it was quite good.  The only thing wrong was that his sense of worth was misplaced.  The same goes for the other two examples.  Their sense of worth was misplaced in temporal things such as family or strength of will.

There will always be someone who is better than you at something.  That doesn't make you worthless.  God made you for a purpose, even if you don't know what that purpose is.  Even if you think you're terrible at everything.  Even if the pain is more than you can bear and you just want a way out.  God made you with value and that will never change.  This is the beginning of God's message of love to us.

This is an encouraging thought, but let's take it a step further.  If we are made with worth through the stamp of humanity, thus God's image on us, then we can look to others and see their worth simply because Jesus made them to have worth.  We no longer have to accomplish anything to have worth.  We no longer have to get something from someone else to give them worth.  Instead, we can all value each other in Christ and celebrate the successes, the family, and the strength we have in this life.  Through this we can show others part of God's love.

The rest of the message God is giving us through the Bible is that we are separated from God due to sin and that Christ came to save us.  If you're a Christian, you know what this really means to you because you've experienced it.  Some people don't necessarily want to hear this part of the message.  This could be because they reject it outright.  I believe most who don't want to accept it aren't ready to accept it yet.  So, in the mean time, show them the beginning of God's love.  Show them that God made them to be worth something.  This is such a hangup of people, that if they learn that they are worth something to you independent of their past and their present condition, they are going to be much more open to hearing the rest of the saving message of love.

I don't know about you, but I need to hear this message everyday.