Value X, or Value Added?

Who are you, and what are you worth?

We like to feel we have self-worth because self-worth gives us self-esteem, but what's our worth based upon?

Is our worth based on a job or a degree, a haughty title or a salary that includes lofty perks and fringe benefits? Or are we defining ourselves according to the color of our new debtors' card, or our latest sexual relationship (especially the physical attractiveness of our "other"), or the car we're driving (this year) or according to the house (with a mortgage we're struggling to crack every month) and the upscale neighborhood where we live?

Ah, well ... a hundred years from now, what will any of those things be worth?

I like this quote, because my friend Jake cuts right to the point:

"Many people are trying to define who they are by a position or a title. Position or title will never satisfy your soul or define who you are. We must define ourselves by who we are in Christ alone."

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The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.
James 1:9-11

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
- 1 Corinthians 13:8

Show me your ways, O LORD,
teach me your paths
- Psalms 25:4