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Worth It vs. Worthy

by | Aug 20, 2019 | The Spiritual Life

Worth It vs Worthy // DonyaDunlap.com

During my teen years, I adopted a well-known slogan for beauty products as my personal mantra. “I’m worth it.” 

Dress I don’t need? Why not? I’m worth it. 

Extra scoop of mashed potatoes? Sure, I’m worth it. 

Three little words that work wonders for selling hair color turned into an excuse to bypass self-discipline and a twisted concept of my value. As you can imagine, it didn’t take long before my mother put a stop to that line of thinking.

What my teenage self didn’t understand is that I am worth much more than a tasty pile of carbs. I am worthy of self-control because I am made in the image of God who thrives on order, beauty, and the careful maintenance of our bodies.

I am worthy of self-sacrifice because God made me into the image of His Son who sacrificed everything for the sake of the world. 

I am worthy of love, honor, respect, kindness, joy, peace, patience, virtue, and so much more because of the imprint of the divine stamped on my life from the moment of conception. 

And so are you. 

We are all made in the image of God. This is why we are creative, funny, intelligent, and playful. The image of God in our lives allows us to set aside our to-do lists for the day and sit with a friend who is grieving. His imprint on our beings calls us to live for more than our selfish desires. It calls us to rise above the temporary things of this world and embrace the eternal. 

We are all created in the image of God, but we don’t all live within the boundaries of His holiness. This is why sin is so grievous to God. It’s not like the spiritual equivalent to spilled milk. When we do, say, think, or harbor anything contrary to the nature of God, we violate the purpose of our creation. He designed us to live in such a way that draws people to Himself. Instead, we so often choose selfishness which gives people an excuse to reject Him. 

That may sound extreme, but we’ve all heard the excuses:

“I don’t want to go to church. Christians are just a bunch of hypocrites.”

“If Christianity is like my [neighbor, cousin, boss] then I want nothing to do with it.”

“If God is so good, why did a drunk driver kill my family?”

In each of these cases, a person meant to draw someone to God turned a person away from God by falling short of God’s standard. True, that person may be misguided in their theology, but that doesn’t relinquish Christians from their guilt.

I am all for affirmations, but if we do not root our self-talk in the words of Scripture, it isn’t worth much. If we stomp all over our co-workers in search of promotion because we’re “worth it,” we may trample our chance to win them to Jesus. 

The next time you feel a nudge to check your motives, run the situation through the filter of Isaiah 26:8: 

Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. (NIV)

Before you take that step, say those words, make that purchase, ask yourself:

    • Am I submitting to Jesus as Lord of my life at this moment?
    • Are my actions in accordance with the laws and principles of Scripture?
    • Am I waiting on the Holy Spirit to direct my steps in this decision?
    • Is my desire to glorify the name of God and make Him famous in this situation?

The temporary pleasures of living life according to the standard of “I’m worth it” pale compared to the joy you will receive from walking worthy of the calling God has placed on your life. 

Wait, calling? 

Yes, while we often use the term in Christian circles to designate employment in certain vocational roles like becoming a pastor or missionary, Scripture teaches we are all called by God to magnify His name throughout all the earth. How do we do that? By submitting our hearts to the Holy Spirit’s control and living out those daily nudges you feel to bless others. It’s both simple and impossible without a constant attitude of humility as Jesus taught: 

He must increase, but I must decrease. John 10:10 (ESV)

I challenge you to consider your life this past week. Have you displayed an “I’m worth it” attitude or an “I’m worthy” submission? If you’re leaning towards the former, what can you change to make next week an example of the latter? The choice may seem difficult at first, but remember, a woman of godly character is worth far more than precious jewels in God’s economy. (Proverbs 31:10) 

A woman stamped in the image of God is priceless. That’s why the cost to redeem her was Jesus’ own blood. You’re not “worth it.” You’re worthy. 

Print, pin or share the image below to remember your true worth every time you see it. 

I'm Worthy! // donyadunlap.com

 

 

Reality Check: Receiving Negative Feedback

by | May 16, 2013 | The Spiritual Life

Today the inevitable happened. I was made aware of my first (to my knowledge) negative feedback on Forgetting the Fairy Tale. I knew it was coming. I knew before I was finished with writing it that this day would come. I prayed that God would guide my words and hoped to avoid what I knew was bound to happen, but alas, it happened.

Sad Lego Boy

When my friend read the words to me, my first reaction was, “That’s it? That’s the worst she could say? That’s not that bad.”

Then the words started to sink in. I must confess—after an hour of trying to let it go, I was strongly tempted to post the following on my Facebook wall:

Would any of you that have read my book and thought it was wonderful kindly make your way to xyz.com and tell this girl that she’s an idiot? Thanks.

(I know, I know. No super-Christian award for me.)

Thankfully, the Holy Spirit called an intervention and hasn’t stopped talking since. And He’s made some very good points. I decided that instead of starting an “I hate haters” fan page I would share what He has reminded me of today. Perhaps someone reading this will benefit from my struggle with the flesh and get that super-Christian award that is now up for grabs.

  1. Someone outside of my circle of family and friends has read my book. This is awesome news.
  2. It’s been said that you aren’t a real author until someone disagrees with you, so woohoo for that confirmation!
  3. At least until the point in the book where I offended this girl, she was exposed to God’s Word and He has promised that His Word will never return void.
  4. If my source of joy, satisfaction, or self-worth comes from what others say about me, I am destined to live a miserable and stress-filled life. My identity is not what I do or how people perceive me. My identity comes from the sacrificial gift of Jesus that has made me a child of the Almighty, All-Loving, All-Wise God who understands me completely and loves me anyway.
  5. I am not perfect. My words are not perfect. I need to be open to correction. I need to be willing to hear it—not argue with it—but hear it and do my best to glean from it whatever truth is there so that I can become a better person, and in this case, a better writer.
  6. My heart is a liar that tells me I am much more awesome than I am. If all I ever do is surround myself with people that love me and shower compliments on me, I will be consumed with pride and I won’t grow. I need friends who are willing to say hard things that I don’t want to hear. I need people to write bad reviews to remind me that I can always improve my communication skills. I need the book signings where no one shows up. These things are thermometers for my heart. They tell me if I am truly living for the glory of God or if I’m trying to steal His glory for myself.

So to you, reviewer-who-shall-remain-nameless…thank you. Thank you for taking time out of your life to read my book and for sharing your thoughts. Thank you for reminding me of who I really am and for pointing out the pride I was allowing to reign in my heart. I am indebted to you. Truly.

Photo credit: Kalexanderson / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA

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