Value = The regard that something is held to deserve; the importance or preciousness of something.
The Millenial Generation: high speed internet, mobile smart phones and social media. With all this technology at our fingertips one thing is certain - anyone can become famous and it seems that being famous = great value.
There has been no other time like this, where we can take a photo or post a blog or twitter update and in moments it can be seen anywhere in the world, by anyone and everyone. And most people can get their 15 minutes of fame - Andy Warhol famously predicted that in the future everybody will be famous for 15 minutes - but in 1963 he changed that quote saying " I'm bored with that quote; now I say in 15 minutes everybody will be famous" - he did not know how accurate that statement was.
We can all publish instantly our own artwork, photography, books, tips, recipes, songs, videos... anything at all, without waiting for approval from publishers or record producers. Literally in 15 minutes or even less time everybody can be famous.
If I become famous do I become more valued or more valuable?
And it brings me to the question that has been underlying our whole existence and probably yours. Am I of value?
Isnt the biggest struggle of all of our lives how to fit in? Whether to try hang with the 'in' crowd. Being accepted. Our value in other peoples eyes.
If we place intrinsic value on being accepted, when we are not accepted we see ourselves of having little to no value.
If other peoples opinion of us dictates our opinion of ourselves we are going to find ourselves tossed about as people are fickle in their opinions.
If our own value and happiness depends on our looks, pretty soon we are going to disappoint ourselves as age takes its toll on our bodies and our faces.
If our value is based on what we earn, the house we live in and the car we drive we can find ourselves in debt over our heads just so that we can feel that we also have value because we live in a beautiful house and drive an expensive car.
If our skill in our profession is what brings value to us, what happens to our value when someone else is more skilled?
Maybe being a good person or a good parent brings us value... so what happens when we lose the plot for a moment and act out of character? We are no longer of value in our own eyes.
So our value and our opinion of ourselves and our happiness has to come from a source that is unchanging, immovable, and bigger than us.
It has to come from within so that it can dictate to the stuff around and about us and so that it can shine out of us.
A gem is of value because it is both rare and beautiful. How apt a description.
I believe that the only way we can truly value ourselves independently of anything that goes on in our life, of how we look, feel or how others see us is for us to be valued so deeply by someone whose value does not depend on anyone or anything else.
The bible says in John 3:16 that God SO LOVED the world (me and you) that he gave his one and only son (to die on a cross for us) that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have ETERNAL LIFE.
Thats true value
I do not believe fame makes us valuable - if it did the people in Hollywood would be the most grounded and happy people on earth. Their marriages would be stable and there would be no divorce and no drug issues. Famous people usually find more emptiness than most would understand because they look to have it all but they feel they have nothing.
"and what do you benefit if you gain the whole world and yet forfeit your own soul? (Mark 8:36) Jesus.
Jesus actually answered our question of value and what is life all about when he stated "whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.36 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? 37 Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"
The only road to happiness and finding the weight of our own value is to lose our life in giving it away in the service of others.
Our ultimate reward for this is not on this earth.
Its time to have an eternal perspective. A long term view of life. And to give ourselves away. Not seek value for ourselves but to see value in others. Jesus did not come to be serve but to serve. And we need to do the same.
