The Value of Self-Worth
At work this week I spent quite a bit of time talking with folks from different walks of life with clearly opposing views and interests. While their view points were very different what I noticed most was the similar passion they each shared about the value of their differing interests.
In the 2000 film Gladiator, Russell Crowe's character (Maximus Decimus Meridius) makes this statement, "What we do in life echoes in eternity." I think for the most part people who actually believe there is eternity would think the statement is true. I do.
What is interesting to me is that folks who believe as I that there is eternity often have the hardest time deciding which things in life merit the most effort. It seems having a sense of eternity would make the choices easier. It doesn't seem to work that way. I think that's true because while we don't like to admit it, we have this great tendency to want the echo to be about us. About what we have contributed to mankind. About what we did to fill this empty space in our lives while doing some work of great importance. So we confuse what's really important with what we want to do. What we want to do becomes important simply because we want to do it. So we learn to co-exist, man and planet. We decide we are responsible for global warming. We decide we can end world hunger. We decide... That's the problem. We think we decide what is really important.
While our eternal value is decided by God we believe value is granted to those associated with; Greenpeace, Save the Whales, Rails to Trails, I love Snails, PETA, Adopt-A-Child, Socialism, or Barrack Obama. So while believing in, and working in and for countless organizations and affiliations may be fulfilling, good for the environment, offer some sense of accomplishment and make us feel good, our association with them certainly has no eternal value.
We eternity believers get around this problem by giving temporal endeavors eternal value and attributing it to God. We make them ministries. Then we can say,"God called me to" whatever ministry. "God called me to such and such work." That way we get to do all the stuff that is really all about us by making God responsible for it. It has to be right and important doesn't it? I mean it was God who opened the door for me.
We spend so much of our time looking for the doors we want God to open we can be blind to the open doorway we're standing in. Instead of realizing the dysfunction in our own lives and families we adopt more children and expose them to chaos. Instead of saving our children we save Polar Bears. Rather than having compassion and love for our brother we ignore him and join organizations and wear cool tee shirts that say we have love and compassion to prove to others we have self-worth.
So whatever you do in life that's all about you please don't make the mistake of thinking those things will have any great eternal value.
Our eternal value is decided by God. So it has to be about him not us. I think so many good things we begin to do wind up so wrong because they start out being about someone else and end up being about us. Self worth, at least for me, is becoming more about the reason I do something than it is about the thing I'm doing. I think I can accomplish more good by doing less but with purer motive. More unselfish time spent doing fewer things that will leave longer lasting impressions. More time spent with people who need that time more than I think I need it. Right under my nose and I'm still looking for something else to do so I can believe I have some self-worth.
"Whatever we do in life echoes in eternity," it's just that most of the echoes, particularly the ones coming from the things we yelled out about ourselves will be so faint that no one will ever hear them. No one but us, we'll hear them over and over and over. How do you determine your self-worth and what will it echo in eternity?
In the 2000 film Gladiator, Russell Crowe's character (Maximus Decimus Meridius) makes this statement, "What we do in life echoes in eternity." I think for the most part people who actually believe there is eternity would think the statement is true. I do.
What is interesting to me is that folks who believe as I that there is eternity often have the hardest time deciding which things in life merit the most effort. It seems having a sense of eternity would make the choices easier. It doesn't seem to work that way. I think that's true because while we don't like to admit it, we have this great tendency to want the echo to be about us. About what we have contributed to mankind. About what we did to fill this empty space in our lives while doing some work of great importance. So we confuse what's really important with what we want to do. What we want to do becomes important simply because we want to do it. So we learn to co-exist, man and planet. We decide we are responsible for global warming. We decide we can end world hunger. We decide... That's the problem. We think we decide what is really important.
While our eternal value is decided by God we believe value is granted to those associated with; Greenpeace, Save the Whales, Rails to Trails, I love Snails, PETA, Adopt-A-Child, Socialism, or Barrack Obama. So while believing in, and working in and for countless organizations and affiliations may be fulfilling, good for the environment, offer some sense of accomplishment and make us feel good, our association with them certainly has no eternal value.
We eternity believers get around this problem by giving temporal endeavors eternal value and attributing it to God. We make them ministries. Then we can say,"God called me to" whatever ministry. "God called me to such and such work." That way we get to do all the stuff that is really all about us by making God responsible for it. It has to be right and important doesn't it? I mean it was God who opened the door for me.
We spend so much of our time looking for the doors we want God to open we can be blind to the open doorway we're standing in. Instead of realizing the dysfunction in our own lives and families we adopt more children and expose them to chaos. Instead of saving our children we save Polar Bears. Rather than having compassion and love for our brother we ignore him and join organizations and wear cool tee shirts that say we have love and compassion to prove to others we have self-worth.
So whatever you do in life that's all about you please don't make the mistake of thinking those things will have any great eternal value.
Our eternal value is decided by God. So it has to be about him not us. I think so many good things we begin to do wind up so wrong because they start out being about someone else and end up being about us. Self worth, at least for me, is becoming more about the reason I do something than it is about the thing I'm doing. I think I can accomplish more good by doing less but with purer motive. More unselfish time spent doing fewer things that will leave longer lasting impressions. More time spent with people who need that time more than I think I need it. Right under my nose and I'm still looking for something else to do so I can believe I have some self-worth.
"Whatever we do in life echoes in eternity," it's just that most of the echoes, particularly the ones coming from the things we yelled out about ourselves will be so faint that no one will ever hear them. No one but us, we'll hear them over and over and over. How do you determine your self-worth and what will it echo in eternity?
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