“All that my eyes desired, I did not deny them. I did not refuse myself any pleasure, for I took pleasure in all my struggles. This was my reward for all my struggles. When I considered all that I had accomplished and what I had labored to achieve, I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 2:10-11). The world thinks you are unworthy. Think about it. For just a single day count all of the messages—a content analysis of sorts— with which you are inundated to reveal to you the fact that some part of your life is either missing or inadequate. What you will no doubt find is that not only are these folks trying to sell you something, but that the biggest bill of goods is aimed directly at your self-worth and self-esteem.
Women, you know you just don’t look good enough, are not thin enough, don’t work out enough, need plastic surgery to be whole, are defined by your inclusion in some health club, and on and on. Men, as well, can’t be men unless they have certain products, drive certain vehicles, manifest certain behaviors or are part of certain trends. All of us are inadequate, and we are in desperate need for external organizations of the world to tell us what to do.
Funny—the odd type of funny—the One Who created you didn’t see it this way. Oh! He tells over and over that we must rely on Him and that without Him we are lost and dying. He even tells you and me about how we need to behave and certain actions that are wrong. However, when He created you and me in His image, this says something far different than when another flawed member of the human race tells us something about ourselves. At the same time, God tells us just how special we are and just how much He wants to be part of our lives to make us complete.
No treadmill, calorie counting handbook, surgeon or financial manager will ever make you whole or give you a lasting sense of self-worth. Sure, they may make you look and feel better for a time. However, you see, time passes and no amount of money can buy it back. Gravity doesn’t take bribes. First it pulls on your body and makes wrinkles and sags. Then, it eventually pulls you to the grave.
Genuine self-worth sees beyond the shadow of the grave to a life with the One Who knows already that “you are worthy,” even with those blemishes on your skin or the fact that you own a car that most think needs to be in a scrapyard. In this day, count those messages, but live like you are worthy in spite of them. Know that you are God’s creation and find the joy in that. There is a reason that Ecclesiastes is an overwhelmingly depressing book. Not only does it place worth in the deeds and thoughts of man, but it places them “under the sun.” To put it another way, it relegates the estimation of worth to a life lived without God’s influence. The result? The wise man says it is vanity or emptiness.
