According to US Government statistics, the average monetary value of a human life is ten million dollars. If you factor in inflation, you can kick that up another million or two. How do “they” come up with this number? It is an average, but still, how can we even begin to put a dollar sign on human beings? What about the child that lives only a few days after birth? What about the elderly, who live to be over a hundred and require constant care? The fact is, there isn’t a number that really can be placed on our value, but God happens to think we’re worth everything to Him.

We often underestimate our own personal worth.  If we’re able to breathe and move, we have value.  If we wake up each day with a sense of purpose; if we take time to listen; if we lift others up with words of encouragement, we have a reason to be here. Sometimes our own value gets set aside so we can spend more time on family.  We may even become overwhelmed by the everyday mundaneness of life.  We feel unwanted, unimportant, un-noticed and way under-valued.  The kids’ needs come first, the house is a mess, there are dishes in the sink, we haven’t even looked in a mirror.  We put so much energy into everyone else, we forget about our own needs. We have obligations with our job, our church our communities.  We don’t have the time in every day to get it all done.

It’s enough to make you raise your hands in despair – or at least think you are the only one in the whole entire world that feels this way.  Let me fill you in on a little secret.  Every person who has ever walked on the face of the earth has at some time or another dealt with a lack of self-worth. 

There are a couple ways of handling this malady. You can beat yourself up for your failures – little and big.  Soon the little failures become gigantic in your mind and overtake you.  You can go on antidepressants to help you cope.  You can join some kind of group of people like you who are facing the same problems. You can turn to a substitute like drugs or alcohol to numb you into believing you don’t have to prove yourself. You can become a drain on society and your fellow taxpayers. You can give up.  None of those ways is productive.  They may be temporary fixes, but they don’t eliminate the problem.

So, instead of turning to those “things” it’s so much easier to turn to the One who created you. His love for you is incomprehensible.  You will find none other like it. His care for you is beyond your understanding.  His willingness to sacrifice His own Son for your forgiveness and eternal life, is inconceivable. The value He places on us is beyond our wildest imagination.

We are important.  We are not meaningless individuals who are just coping every day.  There is so much more to us than that.   WE ARE GOD’S TREASURED CREATION.  He loves us just the way we are – imperfect, unclean, unworthy, but still loved and forgiven.  He no longer sees our sin.  It has been washed away. In place of that darkest wall, He sees Jesus, who changes everything. He doesn’t want us to wallow in self-pity, so He encourages us to carry on in all circumstances.

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV