Day 5: Where's Your Worth?

Day 5
Genesis 10-12, John 4

I think we all struggle with "worth" at times. We search desperately for where it comes from and even place it in things that will never satisfy us fully. Today, we read many instances of this.
After the flood, people came together to build a tower as high as the heavens to be "great". There is nothing wrong with this achievement, or achievements in general, but in reality - who is it placing the spotlight on? When we pour our lives into our collections, our medals, our trophies, our networking, etc., we do those things to feel good about ourselves, and be "important" or "achieve". Again, nothing wrong with these things - I myself like to collect things from places I go because I'm a nerd and think it's cool to have. BUT, when we place that glory on ourselves, rather than building up a life pointed back to Christ, we become like the people building the tower. Like those people, however, God has a way of mixing things up at times to change our perspective.

It's interesting that the story of Abraham (Abram) begins shortly after the Tower of Babel in Genesis. Abraham had an opposite way of glory, in that he followed God's command to leave his homeland and go the path God wanted of him. We see however, when Abram takes matters into his own hands in Egypt, things go a little haywire.
Abraham, as we'll continue to read, was truly a man who placed his worth and direction in the Lord.

In John, we read about another matter of "worth" when Jesus comes to a Samaritan woman and speaks to her. This is very unlikely in this time, as Jews and Samaritans didn't speak, as you gathered from your reading. Not to mention this woman had had 5 husbands and was living with a man, unmarried. Yet Jesus shares with her the Good News of eternal living water. She is so excited, she tells her village about the "Man Who knew everything she had done". This draws more people to hear Jesus and believe. This woman was able to bring people to Jesus, despite her circumstances. Where then is her worth?

When we place our worth in people, things, achievements, etc., we are at a loss of a truly wonderful feeling of eternal security in Jesus. We can have those things and achievements, but they should never be our ultimate goal. Jesus can take your circumstance and make it something so useful and great for His mission. Don't ever throw in the towel of who you are because He has great plans for you!