Know Your Value

There is an old story that goes something like this: A father said to his daughter, “You have graduated with honors, here is a Jeep I bought many years ago. It is pretty old now. Take it to the used car lot and see how much they offer you for it.”

The daughter went to the used car lot, returned to her father and said, “They offered me $1,000 because they said it looks pretty worn out.”

The father said, “Now take it to the pawn shop.” The daughter went to the pawn shop, returned to her father and said, “The pawn shop offered $100 because it is an old Jeep.”

The father asked his daughter to go to a Jeep Club now and show them the Jeep. The daughter then took the Jeep to the club, returned and told her father, “Some people in the club offered $100,000 for it because it’s a classic Jeep and sought by many collectors.”

Now the father said this to his daughter, “The right place values you the right way. If you are not valued, do not be angry, it means you are in the wrong place.”

My ‘Right Place’

As a teenager, I worked on the family farm. It was physically the hardest I’ve ever worked at a job, yet the pay was fairly modest. My work value was only as much as the migrant laborer I worked beside. The tomatoes and raspberries we picked only sold for so much.

My high school brain got the message just in time for graduation: If I want to be more highly valued, I need to get more ‘right places’ interested in me. I needed to get an education. I proceeded to get a bachelors and MBA and the rest is history.

Value in Relationships

The same is true in relationships. If you aren’t valued by a friend, you might need to move on from them.

And what about your relationship with your maker? Do you feel valued by your god, or by any god at all? If not, get moving to where you are.

The God of the Bible says you are valued for two reasons:

• Because of who you are. “You are made in God’s image, according to His likeness.” (Genesis 1:26) And in Ephesians 2:10: “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”
• Because of what you cost. As one loved by God, you have also been chosen by God for “adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself” (Ephesians 1:5). This adoption came at a high price, the death of His Son whose birth we celebrate this month.

Happy new year!