Know Who You Are - Value & Worth

I have watched so many of the people around me doubt their value and their worth.  This is one of my favorite examples of TRUE value and worth.

A speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill.
In the room of 200, he asked, “Who would like this $20 bill?
Hands started going up.
He said, “I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this.”
He proceeded to crumple the dollar bill up.
He then asked, “Who still wants it?”
Still the hands were up in the air.
“Well,” he replied, “What if I do this?”
And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty.
Now who still wants it?”

“My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. Because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value in God’s eyes. To Him, dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to Him. -Unknown Author

We beat ourselves up, saying that we are too fat, too ugly, too used, too troubled, too meek, too broken, too ANYTHING for us to have Value.  We fail to remember that our value and worth is NOT based on the things of this world.  God loves us.  He doesn't wait for us to be perfect, He loves us when we fail to take care of our bodies, He loves us when we are broken, He loves us when we succeed.  There is NOTHING we can do to EARN His love.  We have VALUE and WORTH to Him, no matter where we are in our walks.

Because we have this UNCONDITIONAL VALUE and WORTH, we should praise Him. Praise Him that we might be broken, but we still have HIM.  We might have abused our bodies, but we can still learn to care for our bodies as His temples.  We can still Honor Him with our lives, it's never too late to learn that your VALUE and WORTH is UNCONDITIONAL in the eyes of the ONE whose opinion counts. Don't focus on what is in your past, instead, choose daily to show God how grateful you are to be HIS.