Not Worth Anything

Lie: I’m Not Worth Anything

More than 42 percent of the women we surveyed indicated that this is a lie they have believed. It is a powerful lie.
The problem is that our view of ourselves and our sense of worth are often determined by the input and opinions of others. Sometimes the input of others is accurate and helpful. But not always. If, for some reason, the person we are listening to is looking through a defective “lens,” his or her vision will be distorted. Some of us have lived all our lives in an emotional prison because we have accepted what a false “broken” mirror said to us about ourselves.
Even when the input is, in and of itself, true, the Deceiver can use that data to put us in bondage. Sometimes a single sentence heard as a child can haunt and plague a person for years.
What we believe about ourselves determines how we live. If we believe and act on lies, we will end up in bondage.
Many women today are desperately seeking affirmation; they are driven to gain the approval of others. It’s as if they were trying to balance the scales of the negative input they have received from others. But, in most cases, no number of positive “strokes” can outweigh those negative, hurtful expressions that have led them to believe they are worthless. No amount of affirmation is enough. They can get one hundred compliments about how they look or what they have done, but let one family member offer a criticism, and they are devastated. Why? Because they are letting others determine their worth.
There is a wonderful verse in 1 Peter that shows us how Jesus’ sense of worth was determined, not by what others though of Him – good or bad – but by the Truth as expressed by His heavenly Father: He was “rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him” (2:4). Jesus was rejected by men – those He had created for Himself, those He loved and for whom He laid down His life. But that is not what determined His value. He was chosen by God; that is what made Him precious; that is what determined His worth.
It is conceivable that someone who did not recognize or appreciate fine art would toss a masterpiece into the trash. Would that make the painting any less valuable? Not at all. The true worth of the are would be seen when an art collector spotted the painting and said, “That is a priceless piece, and I am willing to pay any amount to acquire it.”
When God sent His only Son, Jesus, to this earth to bear your sin and mine on the cross, He put a price tag on us – He declared the value of our soul to be greater than the value of the whole world. Whose opinion are you going to accept? Believing a lie will put you in bondage. Believing in the Truth will set you free.


The Truth is that our value is not determined by what others think of us or what we think of ourselves. Our value is determined by how God views me.

Psalm 139:1-18: O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.

Ephesians 1:3-8: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

1 Peter 2:4: As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him…


The Truth is that to God, my soul is worth more than the price of the whole world.

John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Romans 5:6-8: You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The Truth is that if we are children of God, we are God’s cherished possession and treasure.

Romans 8:1-2: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

Romans 8:13: For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

Romans 8:15-17: For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

1 Peter 2:9: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.