Day 11 - People of Sacred Worth

READING: 2 Corinthians 3:16-18

This week we’ll be exploring the difference that a living faith makes to our relationships.

The first relationship we’ll be focusing on is the relationship that we each have with our own selves. For the quality of this relationship, in large measure, influences the quality of every other relationship we have, including our relationship with God.

The sad reality is that many people do not have a good relationship with themselves. In fact, many people don’t even like themselves very much. They are painfully aware of their faults and failings. They are aware of the dark thoughts that go on in the hidden corners of their minds. They feel inadequate, worthless, unlovable.

The truth is that everyone, in some way or another, has made a total hash of their lives, whether they’re consciously aware of it or not. The Bible speaks about the reality called sin, and without apology or qualification declares that “ALL have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23). This is our common lot as people together. As fallen humanity we all find ourselves in the same boat.

But there is an even greater truth than that of our collective depravity. It is the truth of our individual belovedness that is continually affirmed by God, who sees each one of us as precious, cherished children of sacred and infinite worth. One of the great tasks of our faith is to come to see ourselves as God sees us, and to believe that this is who we most truly are wondrously made by God, bearing God’s own image and likeness within us.

There’s a great bumper sticker that puts it like this:

I know I must be somebody
‘Cos God don’t make no junk!

When we embrace this truth, it loosens our tight-fisted grasping of old ideas as to who we are, and allows us to come face-to-face with the God in whose image we have been made and into whose likeness we are being constantly transformed. Listen to these powerful words from 2 Corinthians 3:16-18, as Eugene Peterson translates it:

Whenever they turn to face God...God removes the veil and there they are—face to face! They suddenly recognised that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiselled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old constricting legislation is recognised as obsolete. We’re free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:

As a person of sacred worth, you deserve to be respected, cared for and cherished. But this has to start with you. So how can you treat yourself with greater respect and take better care of yourself? Think about your needs for wholesome food, exercise, sleep, solitude and recreation—what changes are you needing to make?

Who are the people who affirm who you are, and help you to see that you are a person of sacred worth? What can you do to connect with them more consistently?

PRAYER:

Thank you gracious God that I am a beloved child in your sight. Thank you that you look upon me with delight, that you smile when you hear my name, that you regard me as precious beyond price. Help me to believe that what you see in me is true. Help me to trust that I am a person of sacred worth. Help me to see that not even the worst things that I have done are greater than your love for me, your capacity to forgive, and your passionate desire to see me living out my true identity as the person you have created me to be, reflecting your glory and radiating your love. Amen.