Worthless Life

It may be the universal fear: to be found worthless in the eyes of God and man, to be rejected as unfit for fellowship, ministry, or communion.

This may be a healthy fear, not an irrational fear or paranoia, for if we will face this fear and overcome it, we will be ready to scale mountains, face down giants, and lift up the lowly and oppressed.

So, what is the antidote to this fear? How can we ever truly know that our life has intrinsic value to God and others? May God keep this next statement from being trite or banal; we have worth because we are created in God’s image.

Just as your children are invaluable to you, God’s children are invaluable to him. And not just the born again ones. Every living, breathing soul is precious to Our Father. To be sure, he is pleased with the righteous, and he is angry with the wicked, but even God’s anger is born out of a broken, loving heart. He does not share our propensity to despise and disregard the weak or the sinful.

They are the chosen ones, the objects of his gaze and the desire of his heart.  The young and the strong, the bold and the beautiful, the righteous and the wealthy are often tempted to ignore God, and so God may not be able to do much with them or for them.  However, the weak, sinful, and needy are constantly on his mind and heart. He is forever devising strategies to win their love.

Worthless. Unusable. Rejected. This judgment may indeed be the fate of some who despise God’s goodness and kindness, and with their dying breath curse their maker. However, by God’s mercy, we have escaped this judgment. Let us rejoice in our blessed fate. Let us not fear rejection, but let us cling tightly to Our Father’s hand and rest contentedly in his arms, lying close to his heart.

All he wants from us is our trust in his love. He knows that we have no love or virtue of our own. He just wants us to be willing recipients of his love and mercy. Then we will be worthy companions of God and man. Then we will be free from fear. Amen.

—Brad Heilhecker