Know Your True Worth

Take a few moments to think about the words that have been spoken over you in your life. Some have been very encouraging, and maybe some have been negative or harsh.

A person who speaks encouraging words to you speaks as God speaks to us. The Lord is known for seeing the good in all He created. In fact, in Genesis, the first book in the Bible, God enjoyed creating light, land, sea, plants, animals, and human beings and when He completed His work, He said it was “very good.” Our creator fashioned the world and human beings to reflect His goodness and His loving character.

This speaks of His wonderful ordered way of doing things. Nothing is haphazard; everything God created has a purpose, and as we looked at Psalm 139, God created human beings intricately, for purposes He designed.

So, when someone speaks kindly to you, take a moment and take it in. There will be people who flatter, and may speak kindly about the way we look or do certain things. And there will be people who see what God sees, and they call out the good. Some people call this “calling out the gold.” At my small group the woman who facilitated our group asked us what we thought the world would be like if God’s followers only spoke words of blessing to one another. Wow! Can you imagine if God’s followers spoke words of blessing to each other, and called out the good and the gold in everyone? I think the world would be full of God’s pleasure as He loves it when we thank Him for who He is, and speak words of gratitude and praise to Him, and He loves it when we speak encouraging words of kindness to each other. It can even be a gift to receive a word of correction from someone who cares about us, and wants to point us in God’s direction.

Journaling prompt: Take 15 minutes and write down words you have received that were good and made you feel loved, and whole.

Action step: Take a moment to thank God for these people in your life and maybe even contact them to tell them how their words affected you. A written snail-mail note goes a long way to making someone’s day, but an email or a simple text is precious too. If you have time, and can call them or tell them what the words they spoke to you in person, all the better.

Note on negative words: When you hear a word of admonition spoken in love and it comes from someone who cares about you, take time to pray and ask God if there is any truth in it. If there is, you can ask God to help you change. If not, discard it and know that we have an enemy who speaks accusations. As imperfect people, we sometimes say things we regret, and are called to forgive those who hurt us, extending to others the grace we ourselves need. This is not easy to do, but every time we forgive and withhold judgement from another it gets easier. As God’s followers we are told in a book of the Bible called Philippians what we need to think about. It is important to think good thoughts of ourselves and others. Usually what we think about is what we end up speaking over others and even ourselves. So, think and speak good and gold words over yourself and others. Call out the good and gold!

Meditate on this verse today, and maybe even write it down on a notecard or tape it somewhere you will see it for the next week, month or longer. It’s worth memorizing, and praying through: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Philippians 4:8