Know your worth

Love yourself

Live your truth

Follow your heart

Do what's right for you

Get what you deserve

Believe in yourself

 The world is all about telling us how we should view ourselves. What we think and feel is valued above all else--don't let anybody else tell you what you should do, just live your best life right now. And while you're living that best life, remember that you should be given the best at all times--after all, you're worth it.

But what are we really worth?

If you look at the chemical basis, here's approximately what we've got:

• 65% oxygen
• 18.5% carbon
• 9.5% hydrogen
• 2.6% nitrogen
• 1.3% calcium
• 0.6% phosphorous
• 0.2% potassium
• 0.2% sulfur
• 0.2% sodium
• 0.2% chlorine
• 0.1% magnesium

There are more elements at even lower amounts, but altogether? Estimates vary, but going off of the prices of chemical elements listed on wikipedia, you're looking at around $30.

Obviously, we're more than the sum of our parts, though. Right? So what does the bible say about what we're worth?

"For He knows what we are made of, and He remembers we came from dust."
Psalm 103:14

 "All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags"
Isaiah 64:6

"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?"
Jeremiah 17:9

"There is not a righteous person on earth
who always does good and never sins."
Ecclesiastes 7:20

"Before every person lies a road that seems to be right,
but the end of that road is death and destruction."
Proverbs 14:12

Those verses don't paint a very pretty picture. However, that's not where we're left. So, what are we really worth?

The best explanation I've heard comes from a conversation between my dad and his big sister. She was telling my parents all about a new antique piece she had found and how great a deal she got for it. My dad is like me (or I guess I'm like him, huh?)--not big on spending money. Add to that being the little brother, and when my aunt was talking about how great a deal she got on this antique, Pop chimed in with telling her apparently it wasn't that great a deal, or somebody else would have bought the piece.

My aunt was quiet for a second, considering what her little brother had said, then responded, "Well, I guess the other people just didn't know what it was worth."

That antique's worth was determined by what my aunt was willing to pay for it.

On my own, I'm not worthy. I came from the dust, and my life here on earth is barely a blink in the grand scheme of things. I can't do enough to measure up to the goal set--to be perfect, as God is perfect (Matthew 5:48). I could try all the things, spend my life doing good works, trying my best to become the "perfect Christian" and look like I have it all together. I can live a life that earns accolades and praise from the world...but none of that will make me worthy of a relationship with the Creator of the universe, the ultimate perfection, the One who defines love, the One who spoke me into existence.

But my worth isn't determined by anything inherent to me, but by the price He was willing to pay for me.

1 Corinthians 6:20 says, "You have been purchased at a great price, so use your body to bring glory to God!" But what was that price? The price paid for me was the life of the Son, the only One to ever live a perfect life, a life truly worthy. The price paid for me was the life of the One who stepped out of the throne room of Heaven, who stepped out of eternity and into the limits of time, to trade His life for mine.

I don't deserve anything good from God. In fact, the only thing I truly deserve is laid out in Romans 6:23, "The payoff for a life of sin is death, but God is offering us a free gift—eternal life through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, the Liberating King."

But that's one of the amazing things about God--instead of justice, He gives us mercy and grace.

"Thankfully, God does not punish us for our sins and depravity as we deserve.
In His mercy, He tempers justice with peace.
Measure how high heaven is above the earth;
    God’s wide, loving, kind heart is greater for those who revere Him.
You see, God takes all our crimes—
our seemingly inexhaustible sins—
and removes them.
    As far as east is from the west, He removes them from us.
An earthly father expresses love for his children;
    it is no different with our heavenly Father;
The Eternal shows His love for those who revere Him.
For He knows what we are made of;
    He knows our frame is frail, and He remembers we came from dust."
(Psalm 103:10-14)