What really gives us Value

It’s Friday!  Good morning to you.  Let’s see of what value the Words of Encouragement are this morning, and let’s see what really gives us value.

“Let’s go around and have everyone introduce themselves.”  It’s used as an ice breaker at almost every training event, whether it is a training with employees from diverse companies, or whether it’s a company training employees from different departments. So how do we usually introduce ourselves?

“Hi, I am Scott Ramsey and I am a Franchise Business Consultant for XYZ Company.” So now you try it. Go ahead, introduce yourself

So when we introduce ourselves to others, we want to show that we have value.  That’s a deep, innate need – to be valued. But what really gives us value?

There are certain human basic needs that we all have:  dignity, security, purpose/meaning, love/companionship, provision/blessings, and probably more.  And for most of us, this is what our job, work or business brings us.

Genesis 2:15 MSG God took the Man and set him down in the Garden of Eden to work the ground and keep it in order.

So like Adam and Eve, we work to earn our keep as my wife would say.  So our work fills those basic human needs that we have – dignity, security, purpose/meaning, love/companionship, and provision/blessings.

What really gives us value?

Isn’t it funny how our culture, and humans in general, have built our societies around these very needs.  We need to be smarter to be valued, so we go to school.  In order to go to school, we need to work to afford it.  When we get done with school, we need to go to work to be valued and earn our keep.  And then because others are valued, we need to be more valued, so we learn more and try to better earn our keep…then we try to keep up with the Jones’s because we want to have the same perceived value as them! 

…and our work becomes who we are.  If we lose our job, we lose our value, our self-worth, our dignity, security, purpose/meaning…and worst of all, provision for our family.

Most people’s value is performance based

So is our worth performance based?  That’s why I had to be a hero as a kid – to show I had value because my family was dysfunctional to a certain extent.  See how this could lead some to become a work-a-holic?

If we ever lose our jobs, it certainly makes things difficult.  But who we are and the value we have is not based on our job.  Let me re-introduce myself…

“Hi, I am Scott Ramsey.  I am a child of God, a Father, a husband and a son.  This is who I strive at being better at each day.”

Luke 12:6-7  niv Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. ⁷ Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows

And need I even mention John 3:16:

For God so love the world (insert your name here), that He gave His only son, that whosoever believes in Him should not parish, but have eternal life.

You are not valued by God because of what you have done or what you could do by being something (Executive, Janitor, Supervisor, Professor, Professional, Attendant, etc.) but because of whose you are, that no one should boast – you are a child of God.  As a child of God, this is where your dignity, security, purpose/meaning, love/companionship, and provision/blessings lay.

Challenge of the day:  Introduce yourself to someone differently today.  And when you do, let that be where your value is – you are of great value.  So it is!