What Is My Value?Намуна

Not only are we created in God’s image, but in Genesis chapter two, we are given more details about that Creation. Verse seven tells us that the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground.

Can I make another bold statement? If we are seeking self-esteem, self-worth, and self-value, we are putting value and worth on dirt. God formed us from the dust of the ground, and when we die, our bodies will return to dust.

Being created from the dust of the ground is unique. During creation, God spoke everything else into existence. But when it came to mankind, God formed man from the dust of the ground with His hands. Then, He breathed the breath of life into man’s nostrils, and man became a living soul. We are different from anything else that God created. We are not an evolutionary accident. We were made by God for a purpose.

Just as ripping a tree out of the ground breaks its connection and causes it to die, our connection to God was ripped apart in the Garden of Eden. In Genesis chapter three, the devil tempted Eve, she believed his lie, Adam sinned with her, and mankind’s connection with God was severed.

What really happened with Satan’s temptation of Eve? Satan’s lie was that God was holding out on Adam and Eve. His first recorded words were, “Did God really say…?”His lie to Eve was that she was being duped. She could be God. She didn’t have to listen to Him. She didn’t have to obey Him. Yes, He’s gave her this great garden, but why would He keep her from that one tree?

Eve’s response was that God told them not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and not to touch it. She added to God’s Word. When we add to God’s Word, we are questioning God. We must be accurate with God’s words.

The real temptation is to doubt God or to believe that He is holding out on us. If we ever have doubt about our value and our worth, or we start to chase after some sort of prestige, fame, or a certain type of car or family that we think will give us value and worth, what we are really doing is doubting and questioning God. We no longer have that connection to Him. When we do that, our value gets all messed up and we will keep chasing things that do not give true value or worth.

Because of sin, our connection with God has been ripped apart. We cannot fix that ourselves. No matter how hard we try, we cannot reconnect to God by ourselves. We can try to do everything we can to find value, fulfillment, and worth. We think, “If I just had the perfect spouse, then I’d find value. If I can just have the perfect children, that will give me worth. If I can provide the perfect, ‘Insta-worthy’ house, or perfect car, perfect looks, or vacation experience, I will finally find value.”

No, we can’t. Those things will not bring us self-value or self-worth. What should we do instead? Search for God-worth, God-value, and God-esteem. That is the proper way to put it. We can talk about our value, our worth, and our esteem, but we cannot say “self” because that is what Satan did, that is what he deceived Adam and Eve into doing, and that is the cause of all of the problems and misery that has been brought upon the human race.

How do we find this God-worth? How do we properly restore that connection to God? God has made the way, and we will learn more about that in tomorrow’s reading.