Pastor Devotion – Finding your worth in God

By Pastor Nissa Peterson

Chatfield and Root Prairie

Lutheran Churches

Matthew 10:29-31

²⁹ Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 And even the hairs of your head are all counted. 31 So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

I worked in an office setting for several years prior to becoming a pastor. The way the office space was set up, you could determine someone’s importance in the company based on the size of their cubicle or office. Some folks had a small desk space with a file cabinet and computer, and that was it. Some had larger cubicles with a second chair and two walls of desk space. Then you had the offices – anything with a door, even if it was small, was a luxury reserved only for upper management.

It was safe to say that in that setting, your worth to the company could be measured in cubicle size. I no longer work in a cubicle, but I still find that the world tries to define my worth based on other just-as-arbitrary factors.

Maybe you’ve felt the same thing – like you are valued based on largely unimportant aspects of you – like the car you drive, the clothing brands you wear. Things like how tall you are or your dress size. The number of social media followers or how well you play sports. It’s easy to feel like these things determine your worth.

Fortunately, God doesn’t measure our worth based on any of this! God has never measured by the world’s standards. God loves us because of who God is – not because we meet some sort of criteria for deserving love.

Matthew tells us that God watches even the sparrows, which are worth only half a penny. And we are worth more than sparrows, right? Right!

God loves all of creation, even the tiny birds and bugs and critters. And we the part of creation made in God’s image! The simple fact that God made us makes us invaluable to God. God loves you, just as you are.

In a world that comes up with countless ways to tell us what we are worth, find your worth and your identity in the sight of God, who loves you no matter what!

To paraphrase Romans 8:38-39 – I am convinced that neither wealth nor work, neither size nor shape, neither your home nor your car, neither hobbies nor any status, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Let’s pray:

Loving God, thank you for your unending love! Help us to find our sense of worth from your love, not from any other source. Give us wisdom and courage to share the good news of your abundant love with everyone around us. Amen.