| “Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked; …” |
| —from Psalm 37:16 |
“By what measure do we determine our worth?”
A social studies teacher, in the autumn of my ninth grade school year way back in 1961, asked my class that question. Amazingly, or perhaps not so amazingly, no one wanted to volunteer an answer. No one wanted to talk about himself or herself. Even so, I overheard several students talking about the question during the time between classes. Everyone seemed to have an opinion about how other students might measure their worth.
- “Cheryl measures her worth by her good looks,” offered one student.
- “Bill thinks he’s important because he’s the star of the football team.”
- “Linda always dates older guys, so she thinks she’s better than the other girls.”
- “John’s family is so very rich. That’s what makes him valuable.”
As usual, I was lurking on the very edges of the outside of the group. I found it most interesting when I considered what my fellow students thought measured the worth of their peers. I knew that I secretly harbored a distorted sense that I was smarter than most other people—what a foolish notion! But, I also knew that virtually no one liked me because I was too quick to voice my opinions and, generally speaking, lacked even the most basic social skills that seemed so natural to others.
The truth is that such measures of our value and worth are truly meaningless, in terms of the biggest picture—the picture that includes not only our current time, but eternity. For our true value and worth comes solely from our relationship with God. King David understood this fact from his own experience. Notice these words David wrote, as recorded in Psalm 37:16-17:
Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked; for the power of the wicked will be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous.
Temporal means of judging value and worth pale when faced with eternal measures. No matter what the circumstances in which we may find ourselves this new day, it is our relationship with God that truly gives us meaning and worth.
Our value comes from God: not from what we look like, or how much money we have, or how smart we think we are, or any other quality that we may have previously relied upon. That’s something we need to keep in mind all through this day and every day.
