One of the ideas of the Christian faith—that took an embarrassingly long time to get my head around—was that we should love others because God loves them.
Don't get me wrong, just because it didn't quite click didn't mean I felt I had a license to go around hating other people or deliberately treating them badly. I knew that as a Christian, other people were valuable. But I was a bit slow to grasp why.
It felt like asking your parents a decent 'Why' question and hearing, 'Because I said so!' in response. The answer is the same, and you're no closer to understanding the logic.
Loving others recognises the value of human life
What's helped me understand this idea is observing debates about the value of human life and our self-worth (particularly focused on the beginning and end of life) play out in the public square.
Where do we get our self-worth from?
I recently read a blog post titled, 'How to detangle your productivity from your self-worth'. I was drawn to it because I can readily identify with that slippery knot of those two ideas coming together.
In my circumstances of being a stay-at-home mum, it's all too easy fall into the trap of linking my productivity and my self-worth. I question whether I have done enough during the day. And yet, I don't even know what 'enough' looks like—if it can be counted in loads of clothes washed and folded, dishes washed, nappies changed, friends visited, outings made—can someone please give me the score card? Some days I'll ace it, others, less so.
The bottom line is: how I value myself is—sadly—not linked to who I am, but rather, what I have done.
It is so important that we understand where our self-worth comes from because the criteria by which we determine our own worth indicates how we determine the worth of those around us.
We have worth because... because I said so!
This blog post had a magical answer to this dilemma: to unlink these two concepts by realizing that self-worth cannot be altered by an outside effort or force. It simply *is*.
'My worth just is—and yours is too.'
Well that's super. Just believe it and it is so!
I applaud this writer. I think she's onto something. Yes, our self-worth simply *is*. But I don't believe it exists simply because we declare it to be so. Or—perhaps more accurately—simply because it is there and we have named it. This doesn't explain where self-worth comes from.
It would be like answering the question: 'How can you say I have an intrinsic self-worth?' with that old chestnut, 'Because I said so!'
We have worth because ... GOD said so!
I find a more satisfying answer to this question when I go to the Bible.
How can we say humans have an intrinsic self-worth? Because GOD said so!
We have worth and value by virtue of the one who declared us worthy and valuable; God the Creator. And who are we, the created, to contradict the Creator's declarations?
Put another way; God says we are valuable in and of ourselves. Therefore we are.
God does not say, 'Sarah is valuable because she did all the laundry without grumbling, and loved her son and husband perfectly and selflessly and prepared her son a perfectly nutritionally balanced diet (and didn't yell when it ended up on the walls) and had dinner waiting on the table for her family to eat together.'
And I'm thankful because I've not ever had a day where I've ticked all those boxes. Or any.
This is how I know God has declared me—and you—to be valuable. Just swap my name for yours in the following sentences.
God's declarations of our worth
God says, 'I have created Sarah in my image.' (Genesis chapter 1)
God says, 'I have made Sarah a little lower than the angels and crowned her with glory and honor.' (Psalm 8)
God says, 'For I so loved Sarah that I gave my one and only Son, that when she believes in Him she shall not perish but have eternal life.' (John chapter 3, verse 16)
Notice that the value God places on us is nothing to do with what we have done but everything to do with His work?
The perils of tangling our self-worth with anything else
It's so easy to go wrong with this and link our self-worth to everything except God. We link it to what we do; what we own or earn; the mistakes we've made or the successes we've had; our gifts and abilities; our strengths and weaknesses.
It is so important that we understand where our self-worth comes from because the criteria by which we determine our own worth indicates how we determine the worth of those around us.
If your self-worth is linked to your productivity, chances are you will value others according to theirs.
If your self-worth is linked to your pay packet, chances are you will value others according to theirs. And so on.
If your self-worth is based on what God says, chances are you will value and judge others according to what Godsays about them.
God has a high view of humanity, and it is right that we value it highly as well. Our worth is not a self-affirmed worth but it is bestowed upon us by the one who is worthy to give it—our Creator God.
So if God says that He loves everyone and has made them valuable because they are His creation—we cannot see them as anything but valuable because they are his creation, and treat them accordingly.
So go and love others. Why? Because God loves them and values them too.
Sarah Urmston lives in Toowoomba with her husband, Stephen. She loves God, her family, writing, colouring in, crochet, and creating lists. Sarah works full-time at home and seeks to faithfully serve Jesus in many different ways using the time she's given.
Sarah Urmston's previous articles may be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/sarah-urmston.html