Show Others Their Worth

10 Nov

“The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but to reveal to him his own.”  ~ Benjamin Disraeli

We live in a very self-critical world.  The people who know that the best — and who capitalize on it the most — are advertisers.  They pitch products to make a person “look better”, to lose weight, to sculpt the body, to grow or replace hair, to be more virile, et cetera.  All of these ads are designed to point out the flaws in those who are watching.  As soon as a person begins to feel sorry for himself or herself, as soon as that person begins to view himself or herself critically, the advertisers have them hooked.  Before you know it, products are being purchased and rarely do what they promise which leads to the purchase of other products and still more after that.

All because a person was made to feel that he or she was inferior, that he or she did not measure up to society’s standards.

To make a person feel less is one of the biggest disservices that can be done to a person.  A two-time Prime Minister and statesman for the United Kingdom in the 1880’s, Benjamin Disraeli, lets us know the biggest service that can be done for a person: to reveal to that person his or her own self worth.

There are many people who feel as if they have nothing to offer.  They have often been told that either directly or indirectly.  How freeing it is when someone tells them that they have worth, that they have gifts, that they are valuable.  It changes their entire attitude on life.

Jesus did precisely that for us.  The Omnipotent God told us that we have worth by casting off His glory and clothing Himself in our humanity.  He told us about how lovable we were.  He told those who were outcasts — the poor, the sick, the leprous — that they were special and He proved it by including them and by healing them.  Jesus continually told the crowds that they were loved by God and that the Kingdom was in their midst.

Perhaps the biggest thing that Jesus could do to show us our value was to give us His mission.  When ascending to His Father, He said that He trusted us to do His job.  That’s huge.  Do you remember what it was like when your father or mother showed you something that they used to do and then told you that you could try it?  You felt so incredibly grown up and important, did you not?  Jesus does the same to us as He entrusts us with His mission.  Let’s not disappoint Him.  Let’s embrace the mission and go out to His people, letting them know their own value and worth.

FAITH ACTION:  If you know anyone with low self-esteem, point out their good points so that they may see their own worth.