The young man’s head hung low. He’d been beaten. Not by an opponent. No, it was much worse. He’d been beaten by himself. Beaten by risks never taken. Beaten by comparisons best left unmade. Beaten by his own poor choices. Between the tears he whispered, “I feel so worthless.”
As I listened to this young man I couldn’t help but reflect on the times in my life that I had believed the same lie. The lie that I was worthless.
Worthless. An interesting word. If dissected it could literally mean worth less. Which begs the question, “Less than what?” There is only one place I would dare look for truth to such an imperative question….love letters inspired by the King himself.
When we believe the lie we are worth less. We believe we are less than…
How He’s made us:
“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control.” 2 Timothy 1:7 RSV
Who He says we are:
“How great is the love the Father has given us so freely! Now we can be called children of God. And that’s what we really are!” 1 John 3:1 MSG
What He has planned for us:
“At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true:
Death swallowed by triumphant Life!
Who got the last word, oh, Death?
Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now?” 1 Cor. 15:53-55 MSG
Imagine what life would look like if our self-talk was peppered with these powerful truths. What if we tackled each day, each trial with a mind that was set on the truth of how God almighty sees us and all that He has planned for us?
What a difference it would make!
When our self-talk takes a step down the slippery slope of worthlessness the core of who we are becomes sabotaged. The result is a loss far greater than what we might think. It’s easy to remain focused on ourselves when we’ve landed in the pit of self-despise.
How easy it is to forget that God hurts too.
The God who yearns for our friendship loses the full heart of a friend. The God who deserves worship with abandon is cheated. We can become so distracted by self-loathing we can’t fully focus on God. Living the lie of worthlessness is a lose-lose scenario!
If the lie that we are worthless haunts, may we claim the truths listed above! May we write them on our hearts (for me that usually starts with a recipe card!) and may we repeat them aloud or in our heads until we’ve made our minds captive to Christ and the truth He died for:
“You are worthy.” Jeremiah 31:3 MSG
{And don’t forget…it’s Inspire Me Monday courtesy of Angie Ryg! Hook up with some of these inspiring women below!!}
Your DoAhead Friend,
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