Inherent Worth

 Something that nearly every person I know seems to know, deep down, in their heart, regardless of their background or other beliefs, is that humans have inherent worth.

We, as humans, fight for other humans.  We fight to protect children.  We fight to protect the homeless.  We fight to protect single parents.  We fight for those with disabilities.  We fight for the oppressed.  We fight for lots of people.  Some people fight harder than others.  Some people feel hopeless to know how to help.

So why do we fight?  Because, we know, deep down in our heart of hearts, that people have worth!  People are worth fighting for! 

But why?  Why do people have worth?  Where does it come from?

Some people are sorely misguided to understanding where their worth, and the worth of others comes from.  Whether they're willing to admit it or not (this includes me), people often attribute their worth to how useful they are to someone else, to whether or not the person they're attracted to is attracted to them, whether they're good in bed, whether they have these skills or those skills.

And even worse, people will attribute worth to others for even more misguided reasons.  Income, skin color, gender, how they talk, their age, what kind of career they have, their grades, so on and so forth.

You can't convince me that I'm wrong.  I spent the better part of my life settling for guys who brushed me aside, ignored me, only had interest in how or if I could make them happy.  Why?  Because that's what I thought I was worth.  Meanwhile, we shovel the "tough" kids in school off to a room that isn't suited or staffed for their needs.  We happily foster and adopt babies and small children, but let more than 23K teens age out of the system, fall into human trafficking, drugs, homelessness, and unemployment (source).  We dismiss the man standing on the corner because "I bet he has a fancy trailer hiding around back." <- real thing I heard someone say.

Those are such flimsy reasons for worth.  There has to be a better place to find our worth than all of the things I've already mentioned or all the places you've drawn your worth from.  My worth does not come from whether or not I have a significant other, my looks, my grades, my finances, my living situation, my family situation, any history of abuse, my friends, or even my family.  I've just listed 9 things that I've drawn my worth from in the past, and sometimes struggle with today.

But that's not where my worth comes from.

Let's stop for a moment and delve into the world of art.

"The Weeping Woman" Pablo Picasso (1937)

This is "The Weeping Woman," an art piece done by Pablo Picasso in 1937.  In 1998, it sold for over $6,000,000 (source).  Today, that value is over $9,000,000 (source).  That's a lot of money.  It's a very expensive, very valuable painting.  I hate cubism.  I think it looks terrible.  But my opinion on cubism doesn't change the fact that this painting has a worth of over $9,000,000.

Where does this painting get its worth from?

It gets its worth from the fact that the person who painted it was Pablo Picasso.  Its worth lies in the fact that it was painted and crafted by a great artist who pioneered an entirely different art style (cubism).  Nothing more, nothing less.  To sully or destroy this painting would be widely regarded as a tragedy, because someone would have intentionally destroyed art made by a famous artist.

Now stop.  Think about you.  You have inherent worth, intrinsic value.  For someone to damage you, or harm you, or even for you to harm yourself, that is a great tragedy.  Why?

Because you were made by a great artist.

"So God created human beings in his own image.

    In the image of God he created them;

    male and female he created them." — Genesis 1:27 NLT

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb." — Psalm 139:13 NLT

This is where your worth comes from.  From being created in the image of an almighty and all powerful God.  The God who loved us when we did not love him.  The God who loved us when we didn't know him, or didn't understand him.  The God who loved us when we tried to find our worth everywhere but in just resting secure in the fact that he loved, and still loves us.

" This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins." — I John 4:10 NLT 

"But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners." — Romans 5:8 NLT

 Even as a Christian, I didn't believe it.  I'm sure I said it with my words, but deep inside, I definitely didn't understand it.  I didn't accept that as truth, and I missed out on security that comes with knowing that I am loved and have worth, because I am made in the image of God.

That's because we have a part to play in all this, too.  God put within us intrinsic worth that cannot be taken away, but we chase after fog, trying to find our worth.  We have to accept that we have worth because God made us.  And if we accept that our worth comes from being made by God, then that means we have to accept that he knows what is best for us, which means we then believe the words he's spoken through others about how we should live our lives.

And sometimes the ways he asks us to live our lives are hard.  He asks us to care for others...not just the others who thank us for what we do, but the ones who are greedy and ungrateful.  He asks us to pray for people who have hurt us, and not try to hurt them the ways they've hurt us.  He tells us to think of others as better than we are, to speak the truth in love, not just shouting, "I'm right, you're wrong, and here's my proof!!!"

Why does he asks us to do all that?  Because they have the same inherent worth we do.  Because he loves them, too.