Worth

"Until you settle the issue of your own worth,
it's impossible to bring holiness into anyone else's life.
Until you understand that your worth
is already determined by the fact of your birth,
everything else is an exercise in propping up a dying tree."

~ Carol Brazo ~
"No Ordinary Home"

When I first saw this quote, the word that stuck out to me was worth. I did a search on bible gateway for verses that included that word or a variation. Here is a sampling of some of the verses I found.

2 Kings 17
14 But the Israelites would not listen. They were as stubborn as their ancestors who had refused to believe in the Lord their God. 15 They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and they despised all his warnings. They worshiped worthless idols, so they became worthless themselves. They followed the example of the nations around them, disobeying the Lord’s command not to imitate them. 16 They rejected all the commands of the Lord their God and made two calves from metal. They set up an Asherah pole and worshiped Baal and all the forces of heaven.

Acts 20
24 But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.

Romans 1
24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. 25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. 26 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other.

Revelations 5

3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll and read it. 4 Then I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll and read it. 5 But one of the twenty-four elders said to me, “Stop weeping! Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David’s throne, has won the victory. He is worthy to open the scroll and its seven seals.

I found a trend. Only God is worthy. Our only real worth comes from Christ alone. So, until we can really grasp that we are valuable to God because we are, we are fighting a losing battle. It seems to me that is the meaning of propping up a dying tree. We aren't giving life to the tree, just helping the dead thing stand by doing things to feel worthy. Christ gives us life and our worth. I hope that you can spend sometime today celebrating what Christ has done.

Join us over at Fruit in Season with Christine and add your thoughts to the mix.

Thanks for reading

Cyndee