In February, I looked into getting a new car. My current car, a blue Chevy Cobalt, is 15 years old and is creeping up on 217,000 miles. Part of the search and financials was how much I could get out of my Cobalt. The more, the better, as it would help my monthly payment. I had it appraised and the most I was offered was $500. While I agree that an old car like mine will not be worth much, I have to admit that I was hoping for more than that. Needless to say, I didn’t sell it or get a new car. I still drive that Cobalt. It is worth more to me than $500, as it still runs well and is a lot of fun to drive.
We all have things in our lives that mean more than just a dollar sign. It could be a car. It could be a house. It could be a picture. It could be a dining set your grandma once owned. Sentimentality counts for a great deal to many people. Last month, I told you about the home movies my dad gave me. Those are almost priceless to me, because of what they mean to me, not because 25-year-old VHS tapes are going to break the bank. I’m sure you have something in your life that you would be hard pressed to sell or get rid of because of the value you place on it, and it’s not going to mean that much to someone else.
What about you? How much do you think you are worth? One thing that hurts me to see is when people struggle with self-worth. I can empathize with that as that was a struggle of mine in my junior high years. And as time goes by, self-worth problems continue to grow. Depression, anxiety, fear, etc. continue to impact society at unhealthy rates. The hard part is that there doesn’t seem to be a single cure for it all. We all struggle in different ways. But I can tell you that what helped me is realizing that God valued me and loved me in ways I couldn’t even imagine. And that is seen no better than at the cross.
I can only imagine what was going through Jesus’ mind as his hour drew near to being arrested. I think it’s safe to assume, based on his experience in Gethsemane, that he was terrified. He didn’t want to go through it, but he bravely resigned himself to God’s will. And that would have been a scary thing. As Isaiah 53:10 says, “Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer…” (NIV). Starting from his arrest to his death, Jesus was caused to suffer and be crushed by the Romans who, while I’m sure they didn’t know it, were living out God’s plan for Jesus.
But why? Why go through all of this? Why not call on the angels to help him? Why not free himself and the others, because he had the power to do so? It’s all because Jesus knew what you are worth. It’s not something that can be quantified. Your worth can’t be counted and your value can’t be negotiated. You are worth the Son of God’s life. Think about that for a second. Let that really sink in. You are not what others say about you. You are not even what you think about yourself. And your worth is not found in your bank account balance or the possessions you have. Your worth was proclaimed at Calvary 2000 years ago when the perfect, sinless Lamb of God took away the sins of the world so that we can join him in heaven for all eternity.
While this is something that can be easy to accept, it can sometimes still be hard to live out as our identity. We still live in a world that tries to put a price on individuals, based on their ability, experience, possessions, etc. But know that other people cannot rightly assess your value because we humans have a skewed perspective of reality. We think such temporal things matter. But in reality, in the long haul, they don’t. While it’s nice to have the best stuff, or to be exceptionally talented, none of those things will pass to heaven. We have to remember that, otherwise we’ll become ensnared by what others think of us, and that’s not healthy or what God wants for us.
So I implore you, as Easter gets near, to live out what you’re truly worth, the blood of Christ. Find peace in that. Find joy in that. Find purpose in that. This is the basis of the cross. We couldn’t pay the debt of sin, so Jesus came to pay it for us, because that’s what we’re worth to the God of the universe.
18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. -1 Peter 1:18-19 NIV
