I feel worthless as a Christian?
Question
I feel worthless as a Christian?
Answer
Kelley Blue Book advertizes that it "is the trusted resource for prices, values and reviews on new cars and used cars." The Bible, God's Blue Book, not only advertises, but empathically states the value of a Christian.
First, your feelings, while important, need to be properly informed by God's truth — God's Blue Book of our worth - the Bible. A Christian is a child of the King of Kings. They are heirs of the righteousness of faith. They have been given all things that pertain to life and godliness. They have been judged righteous before Almighty God. Their salvation is sure. Their eternity is known. They shall live with Christ forever. WHO you belong to and WHO you have become need to inform our feelings about our worth! 1 Peter says:
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy (2:9-10).Second, we do not always feel like who we really are because we are not everything we can be. Though we ARE HOLY, we do not always act like who we really are. Again, as Peter says, "Be ye holy; for I am holy" (1 Pet. 1:13-17). We need to have a holy fear of God (1 Pet. 1:17) and put off our former lusts (1 Pet. 1:14). Your feelings of worth are closely akin to how we live and how we undertstand God's forgiveness. Though we are far greater sinners than we ever thought — we are also far more forgiven than we can imagine!
Third, though we have joined the Army, we often resist our boot camp training. We need steady spiritual nutrition: the Word, prayer, fellowship, the sacraments, etc. As in the natural world if we do not eat right we can get weak and depressed and if we fail to eat right spiritually we get weak and feel estranged from God.
When we eat right, we understand our worth more fully. Before you trade in a car you attempt to make it look as good as possible to get the highest Blue Book rating possible. You wash and wax your vehicle. You vacuum the interior and clean the rest of the vehicle appropriately. The Good News of the Gospel is that while you do your very best to wash, wax, and appropriately clean your vessel, Jesus takes out ALL the scratches, dings, and marks and we get the highest rating — as if our vessels were still perfectly new and perfect — as in Christ they are! We have a HIGH Blue Book value. Believe it, accept it, live it!
Answer by: Joseph R. Nally, Theological Editor, on behalf of the staff at IIIM. The opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily the "official position" of Third Millennium Ministries.