HOW VALUABLE ARE YOU?

BIBLE PASSAGE:
“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or
store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds
them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”
(Matthew 6:26)

MEDITATION:
What is your real value? How are you valued in the eyes and opinions
of others? How do you feel about yourself? Does it ever seem that others
are about 99% focused on themselves, and only 1% interested in you?
Have you ever noticed that when others ask you how you are doing, they
aren’t really listening to your reply?

Does it seem as though they are only asking a question as a springboard
to tell you about themselves? If you have these kinds of feelings, you are
not alone. The truth is, there are many who feel low self-esteem and it is
often a result of the way they are treated by others.

I tried an experiment one day just to see if others are really listening.
When someone would ask me,
    “How are you doing?”
I would reply,
    “I’m doing good, most of the cancer is gone”
If they were listening, I would expect a response like,
    “Really? I didn’t even know that you had cancer.
      What type is it and how are they treating it?”

But that wasn’t their response. Instead, they would say things like,
    “That’s great!”
and then start telling me about themselves and what is going on in
their own lives. It confirmed to me that in general, people are not
very good at listening (really listening).

What about you? Do you ever feel like you are intently listening
to others, however they don’t seem to be as interested in hearing
anything you have to say?

Others may value us a lot more than we think they do, but quite often
they get so caught up in their own world, that it may cause us to think
they don’t care. I remember a time when a friend walked off in the middle
of something I was saying. Why would someone do that? I can’t imagine,
but that didn’t mean I was of no value in his eyes. In fact, the same person
has prayed for me on many occasions. That tells me that we should evaluate
others over the long haul, and not just on one incident.

Sometimes people allow Satan to smother their good quality of selflessness
with a bad quality of selfishness. When that happens, it causes us to be more
inwardly focused (on ourselves) than we are outwardly focused (on others).
That’s a clever tactic used by Satan to cause us to be less like Jesus, the One
we are following.

What do the scriptures tell us about being attentive to others?
    My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this:
    Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak
    and slow to become angry
    (James 1;19)

Whenever we feel like we have little value in the eyes of others, it can affect
us in many ways, can’t it? We can experience emotions like anger, sadness,
hurt, offended, exclusion, depressed, low self-esteem, etc. It can cause us to
have an overall feeling of worthlessness, and it happened as a result of the
way we were treated by another person, or persons.

This should serve as a warning for us to,
    (1) have a greater concern about the way we treat others.
    (2) realize the negative impact we can have on others.
    (3) avoid having too much dependence on others.

The good news for us is, we know from the scriptures that we have a
Heavenly Father who places a high value on us. He has proven how
much He loves and cares for everything and everyone He created. He
takes care of the birds, and from all their chirping, they seem to be
happy.

He has also proven how much He loves and values us as His creations,
by the way He agonizingly sacrificed His Son so that we could receive
His forgiveness and salvation. It might be rare for someone to die for
us, but Jesus did! He sees value in us, and as believers, He gave us His
Holy Spirit to be our friend, our guide, our comforter, our counsellor,
our prayer partner, and our listener.

ACTION:
Do you have a feeling of low self-esteem? Do you feel that way because
of how you have been ignored by others? Is your primary focus on the
opinion of people (who may or may not care), or is it on the Lord (Who
has proven beyond a doubt that He always cares)?

How good of a listener are you? Are your concerns and conversations
mostly about yourself and your life, or do you sincerely listen to others
when they are speaking?

We have a staff member at our church who is the most intent listener I
have ever met. He has a unique way of blocking out all the other ‘noise’
and focusing directly on what you are saying. It is so unusual that it can
almost make one almost feel uncomfortable at first, until you get used to
him. I can only imagine how much better the world would be if we could
all learn to listen with his intensity.

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, I’m happiest when I’m fully trusting in You.
Guide me in constantly find my self-worth through You. Help
me to be grateful for Your faithfulness in loving and caring for
me. Thank You for seeing value in me even if others do not. Teach
me to have greater concern for others, and show me how to use the
spiritual gift You have given me to serve You. Remind me often that
when I am serving You, I am showing my thankfulness for how You
have blessed me, and I and am proving my self-worth to myself.
Serving You assures me that I am valuable as a member of Your
family.”

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