Who or what determines your worth, your significance, your value?
•Your value is not determined by the approval, belonging, or recognition of others.
•Your value is not determined by your thoughts about yourself.
•Your value is determined by God’s thoughts about you!
Identity – You are precious because God treasures you! Your identity, your worth, your significance is from God. Who you are in God’s eyes is your true identity.
Luke 12:6-7 TPT
“What is the value of your soul to God? Could your worth be defined by any amount of money? God doesn’t abandon or forget even the small sparrow he has made. How then could he forget or abandon you? What about the seemingly minor issues of your life? Do they matter to God? Of course they do! So you never need to worry, for you are more valuable to God than anything else in this world.
FN 12:6–7 This translation has chosen to make explicit the figures of speech and metaphors of these verses. The literal Greek text reads “Do not five sparrows sell for two copper coins? Not one is overlooked before God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are numbered. Stop fearing—you are more valuable than many sparrows.”
God places great value on each of us. He cares about even the little things in our lives.
***This truth changed the world.***
John Locke, a political thinker (philosopher), and a Christian, rejected the “divine right of rule” which nations in Europe (assisted by the Catholic Church) used to justify dictatorship as a form of government.
Locke rejected the Catholic Church’s argument that kings were chosen by God to rule over the common people and the right passed down to the king’s son or daughter.
Locke argued that the worth of each individual was established by God. God set us free. And God made us equal. The life of each person is valuable in God’s eyes. Each person has a right to live free and pursue who God created them to be. Locke’s powerful ideas were released in these famous lines of the Declaration of Independence:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.
From the seeds of God’s value for each individual person came the American constitution. The foundation of the supreme law in America is the Bill of Rights in the Constitution. Our constitution establishes the rights of every person in America. The least and the greatest have the same rights. Our government is limited by our rights and freedoms given through the constitution.
John Locke’s understanding of God’s worth for each of us became a new form of government based on the value of each individual.
America’s God-given government soon spread to much of the world. Dictatorships toppled and people were set free in nation and after nation.
For if you embrace the truth, it will release true freedom into your lives.”
John 8:32 TPT
Your God-given identity will set you free:
•from your past
•from your sins
•from man’s traditions and influence
•from the opinions of others and even yourself
Truth must be embraced and worked out for it to have full effect in our lives.
TODAY'S ACTIVATION: What is the value of my soul?
Declare this out loud with me. Declaring God’s Word renews our minds and replaces false thoughts and bad feelings.
Luke 12:6-7 is true. God said it and I believe it.
“What is the value of my soul to God? Could my worth be defined by any amount of money? God doesn’t abandon or forget even the small sparrow he has made. How then could he forget or abandon me? What about the seemingly minor issues of my life? Do they matter to God? Of course they do! So I never need to worry, for I am more valuable to God than anything else in this world.
[Personalized – my for your, I for you]
Remind yourself of who you really are several times every day.
Write it where you can read it when you are feeling down or feeling bad about yourself.
And here is what will happen:
Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 8:31-32 NIV