I have learned to accept Christ as my worth because He is worthy. It has taken me 37 years to get to this point. Talk about long suffering, thank you Lord for your patience. This is actually very new thing that has moved from my head (knowing) to my heart(experientially). It is very raw in its form, fresh off the wine press. So please bear with me as you read. I just felt pressed to share it with you. It may not be polished. So I hope you can see Christ and not the unrefined writer.
I feel like the woman at the well telling everyone about who she met and what the Lord did for her. I also know that she did not know all the implications of that freedom she was given and neither do I but I am free!! I am not afraid anymore. The shame and guilt and anxiety are gone!! I am free to be all that I was created to be in Christ. I can be vulnerable and real because my source of worth comes from Christ.
This was possible because my brothers and sisters chose to see me as new man/new creation in Christ. They all ministered Christ’s life to me through community life we have together. They gave me the freedom that I needed to work things out with the Lord. It was a safe place for me to allow my facade to fall away as be seen as less than perfect but completely loved anyways. Now that is CHRIST.
We are bombarded daily by messages real or perceived that we are not worthy or not good enough. We are not worthy of our spouse, our jobs, to be a parent or anything that people might need us to be. We never measure up. A lot of my struggle was in my mind hearing a voice saying you are worthy and the other voice saying there is no way you could ever be good enough. We grasp at anything that will take away that pain. I am not sure about you but I tried to avoid any situation that would further reinforce that since of unworthiness. Even if it meant I missed out on the good stuff too like the body of Christ. We cannot accept the riches of Christ like His righteousness, sanctification, or holiness if we do not feel we are worthy of them in the first place. I cannot accept that I am seated in the Heavenlies with Christ if I feel I am not good enough. We are worthy because Christ is worthy not because of us and that is freeing. My worthiness does not depend on me, YEAH!! I know this could appear elementary but it is very real for me now. I can lay hold of all that He has for me now.
This sense of unworthiness is, I believe, one of the effects of the fall. We have been fed a lie that you are not good enough. The cycle of sin and the guilt and shame that ensue feeds that sense of unworthiness or not feeling like we are enough. Christ came to show us our sense of worth not to condemn us. When we give Christ to one another we send the message that you are worthy.
When the Lord of all creation pierced space and time that sent the message-you are worth it.(no hierarchy)
When the Lord of all creation ate and spent time with the least of these that sent the message you are worth it.(community life/ sharing His life)
When the Lord of all creation met the woman at the well He shared his life with her. He gave her the gift of seeing her already perfected state. This sent the message you are worth it.(seeing a person as a new man/new creation)
When Christ said he came to save the world and not to condemn it, that sent the message that you are worth it.
I know the most obvious of examples is of Christ enduring the cross. This sent the message that this fallen world was, is and will always be worth EVERY drop of blood that was shed. (laying down our lives for our brothers and sisters)
Every time you take the time to open your mouth and encourage or remind someone who they are in Christ, you are sending the message that they are worth it.
Coming into an expression like this is not magical or mystical. It is not because of the expression itself but because of Christ being in each of my brothers and sisters that I could come to the reality that Christ is my worthiness. Christ offers the same life that he gave so freely to anyone while he was here, he gave to me through my brothers and sisters. They gave me the gift of seeing me in my already perfected state as a Holy one, a saint, a child of God, righteous and seated with Christ in the Heavenlies. Even though It was difficult for me to accept and receive.
We send HIS message to the world that you are worth it when we choose to see people in their already perfected state. This is how Christ sees everyone who is of Him. Doing this allows them to see Christ as their source and not to identify with their struggles or shortcomings. Letting the person go through the struggle and just sharing Christ with them- now that is true freedom. Not telling them what they need to fix about themselves or their situation. Besides Christ is all we have to offer anyways because CHRIST is the only solution to anything we face.
We also share the common life of Christ that is seen in community life. The Father and his Son are always together and life is always passing back and forth between them. That is no different when we are with our brothers and sisters in Christ. That life, the very life of Christ passes back and forth without any effort. That is the nature of Christ’s life that is all it knows-it flows freely in and among us. This sends the message-you are worth it. You are worth sharing in my Life. Spending time with someone which is community life, seeing them as Christ sees them sends HIS message you are worth it. This is what was offered to me. I was always encouraged to turn back to Christ. My brothers and sisters did not try to fix me they were just with me through it and offered me HIS life not their own.
If I have to spend the rest of my life sending the message that you are worth it, I will. So you can accept all that Christ has to offer which is His love, righteousness, holiness, royalty, and a son of God because ALL of who Christ is we are too because we are in HIM. We have a world dying to know that they are accepted and worth every drop of His blood and all the riches that come along with that blood. They can enjoy all those riches now they do not have to wait til they “get to heaven.”
The Lord has been working with me to show me how worthy I am but this video and post was the nudge I needed to fall deeply into the reality that Christ is my source of worth. It helps to watch the video first then read the post. This is very rich with the life of Christ. I hope it can nudge you a little further too:) Community life in the body of Christ: Viewing shame, vulnerability, and worthiness in light of Him
I have also posted a list of who we are because of Christ. It is not an exhaustive list just a good start. I encourage you to take some time to read the list. If you add to the list let me know. I would love to know what you find. There is always more of Christ to be had.
