The worth of something. What determines the worth of something? How do you know the worth of something? How do you know your worth? Why am I asking so many questions?! These questions are important to ask. Do you think it is true that the way you treat something is determined by the worth you place on it?
A couple a months ago the garage where I bought my car was doing a deal, where you could upgrade a newer model, so I thought I would check it out. I was happy with my car, but my car lacks some of the facilities the newer models have, so I thought it would be good to check out these new vehicles. I could soon be hitting the road with more hi-tech facilities! Now I am not very knowledgable about cars, so I am afraid I am one of those who is just looking for something that looks good! So I was getting ready to trade my car for something I thought would be better! We get to the garage and the guy goes to take a look at my car to give me a valuation for it. When he comes back he tells me all about my car. The spec that it was built to and the uniqueness of it all. How I wouldn't find another car with interior like it and so forth...unfortunately somebody else had to tell me about the worth of my car. But what if he hadn't? I would have traded my car for something 'standard' because I didn't know the worth of my car.
Wow! How easy we will trade the things of worth for something sub-standard, because we don't know their value. We hear of this story in the Bible. Hungry, a young man comes in from hunting to find that his younger brother is cooking stew-the smell of the delicious stew seems irresistible, so the young man asks his brother for some of the stew. The younger brother agrees, under one condition. The young man must give him his birthright. In those days, the older brother had the birthright, which meant that a great part of the inheritance and the family name passed to that older brother. The young man failed to see the value of the birthright (the Bible even said he despised it) and so he sold it to his young brother! (Genesis 25)
What about somebody else who made a trade? Moses grew up in a rich family. Born a Hebrew, he was brought up by Pharaoh's daughter from a young age. Hebrews 11 paints an interesting picture of this all:
24 By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26 esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in[e] Egypt; for he looked to the reward.
Moses grew up surrounded by riches, but he made a trade. He traded those temporal things for eternal treasures. Why? Because he saw the value. Because he saw the worth. Without seeing the worth or value of something, we can easily give it away or let it pass us by.
What are you worth? How do you treat yourself? Do you sell yourself short?
So many times we settle for less, or we allow ourselves to be used because we don't know our worth. We trade ourselves in and compromise for what seems great, but we soon find out that all that glitters is not gold and we have given up something great for the temporary pleasures.
The Bible says we have this treasure in earthen vessels. It says we are a royal priesthood. It says that we are God's treasure possession. It says that God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten, whosoever believes in Him will not die but have everlasting life! He traded all for us...He saw us as worth it. He saw my worth- when nobody else saw it, not even me, He died for me! Like how I didn't see the worth of my car - times we don't see the worth of ourselves. But we can't treat ourselves anyhow or sell ourselves short, for we have this treasure in earthen vessels.
If you had treasure what would you do with it? Hide it? Flaunt it? Protect it? Share it? Value it? Knowing that you have treasure in yourselves, what will you do with you? We can hide ourselves, not knowing the treasure that is in us is a gift for the world see. We can flaunt ourselves, spending our treasure unwisely- flashing it here and there-compromising ourselves. These are things we can do...what will you do?
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