There is a temptation to ties one’s worth into what one can produce.
As if somehow what one does with their hands or with their time/gifting/energy etc defines them and their value. Indeed, for many of us, this is a temptation to consider that a person does not have quality of life unless they are producing something or contributing something. Instead, however we need to tie in value and worth with being made in the image of God.
If value is linked only to production this also lends to a person being “disposable” whenever they are not producing at all or as much as someone else deems “proper” or not as much as someone else. We may find that we pass this type of judgment on ourselves or on someone else. Somehow we have falsely been convinced to believe that we are only as important, valuable or lovable as our production value.
I am not loved by God because of what I produce. You and I are not loved by God because of our performance. In fact I am not valuable to God because I have made anything but instead simply because I exist. We are valuable to Him because He made us and we are now alive according to His power and good pleasure.
Because God has chosen that I should exist, and because I am a product of His mind, heart and will, therefore I have value. This is not merely predicated upon some future promise of what I will do but instead entirely dependent upon who He is and what he has done.
What then, when our production value decreases?
- Are we then to be shunned?
- Harshly judged?
- Cast aside?
- Condemned?
Or is our value still significant and the relationship with God still available to us?
Indeed, God still desires to have a relationship with us. Even when we are not “producing” or “performing”. In fact He never bases His desire for relationship with us on our production value, our performance or the “return” that He someone gains from His investment in us.
God desires a relationship precisely because He gets to pour Himself into us. God yearns to be with us because He yearns to love, to bless, to beneficently and extravagantly give so that we might experience His joy, His life, and His perfect abundance.
What should we do then when we realize we have dropped the ball and stopped producing? What should we do then when we realize that we cannot produce as much as we once did or as much as someone else can or as much as even we ourselves potentially could if we worked harder or smarter?
- First of all we need to ask the Lord to break us of this incessant, diabolical and deceived stronghold of production and performance.
- Second we need to ask the Lord to instill in us an understanding and valuation of relationship and connection with Him as the premier and utmost place of life and significance/purpose.
- Third, we need to ask the Lord to help us to stop trying to produce at all and instead become tied in, connected with, sourced by and fully alive by abiding in Him.
- Fourth, we need to ask God to help us to no longer see ourselves as producers but instead as conduits (tied into Him, receiving His life flow into and through us) so that everything that is produced is actually produced by Him
- Fifth we need to ask the Lord to help us view everything in terms of its connection to Him rather than in terms of its production value.
Remember that:
– Everything created by God has eternal and priceless value
– Everything created by God but not tied into Him will be grievously empty, flailing, and lost
– Everything created by God that is also tied into Him will be fully alive
– Everything not created by God has no value or worth and therefore will be burned up and destroyed so that it will not hamper, hinder, corrupt or harm His Beloved.
Finally, let us realize and cling to these truths:
- I am important and valuable because God made me
- God loves me and made me because He is love and He desires to be with me and to bless me
- What I produce and how I perform in this life is nothing
- Only what is done by God will last
- If I am tied into God I will know my value and I will be fulfilled and complete in Him
- If I stay tied into God, He will produce in and through me what He desires and I no longer have to try to figure out how I am doing or how I am comparing or how I am keeping up
- Instead I can just abide and receive the fullness of Him in myself
Pastor Michael Johnson 