Value Vs. Importance

Value vs. Importance

Hunter Smith and Darrin Gray, in their book The Jersey Effect, unpack the crisis that we have in sports. They state, “Athletes . . . are raised to believe they’re important. . . . Importance, however, is performance-based. Importance doesn’t last. Importance is empty.”^a

The result is that as a society, we are raising up people who are important but don’t see themselves as valuable. When their performance stops, their identity goes away, and they often struggle. Smith and Gray cite a statistic that nearly 78 percent of all former NFL players, two years after being finished with football, are either bankrupt, divorced, or unemployed.^b

Such negative effects don’t happen just in sports. They happen every day in the marketplace. They happen in marriages. All of this because we don’t know who we really are.

Much of the book of Ephesians deals with understanding the identity of the Christian. Several times, the apostle Paul says to the church in Ephesus, “Formerly you were . . . now you are. . . .” Then in Ephesians 4:1 we see this challenge: “Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.”

In chapter 4, Paul explains how to live in light of having your identity grounded in Christ. The word called means being issued a summons. In essence, Paul is saying, “Because you have been summoned to God through Christ, live in a manner responsible to that summons.” You see, when we learn that we are valuable because of our union with Christ, our identity gets settled. We realize that we have been chosen by God to be his children, and we stop worrying about the opinion of others and having to perform for them.

I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.

Ephesians 4:1