You Still Have Value

You Still Have Value

The very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.

Luke 12:7

We were two of the speakers at a marriage seminar in Branson, Missouri, when we saw another speaker, our friend and popular marriage author Gary Smalley, do something that captivated the crowd. Before an audience of thousands of people, Gary held out a crisp fifty-dollar bill and asked them, “Who would like this fifty-dollar bill?” Hands started going up everywhere. He said, “I am going to give this fifty dollars to one of you, but first let me do this.” He proceeded to crumple up the bill. Then he asked, “Who still wants it?” The same hands went up in the air.

“Well,” he replied, “what if I do this?” He dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, all crumpled and dirty. “Now, who still wants it?” Again, hands went into the air. “You have all learned a valuable lesson,” Gary said. “No matter what I do to the money, you still want it because it doesn’t decrease in value. It is still worth fifty dollars.”

Gary’s simple illustration underscores a profound point. Many times in our lives we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make or the circumstances that come our way. We may feel as if we are worthless, insignificant in our own eyes and in the eyes of others. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, we never lose our intrinsic value as God’s children.

Have you internalized this message? If so, you know at the center of your being, deep down in your soul, that your value is established for all time. Your lovability is rooted deep in God’s unending love for you. You don’t have to work harder, look better, or win prizes of any kind. You know and live the most crucial message ever articulated: that you have inestimable worth because you are a creation of the Creator. Take this truth deep into your soul today, and allow it to serve as a springboard for the love and respect you offer to your spouse.

Though our feelings come and go, [God’s] love for us does not.

—C. S. Lewis