Determine your own worth

You must determine your own worth in life and not let other people do it for you. "And a voice came from heaven: 'You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.' " Mark 1:11. A child needs affirmation from his parents. It is their job to teach their children that they are loved despite any flaws and imperfections they have. If this knowledge is instilled from a young age, they will grow up with a solid, strong personality. They will not feel the need to try to manifest perfection, thinking that the only way they will be accepted is by their good deeds and achievements. A lot of the time, parents don't know how to give that affirmation, often because they didn't receive affirmation from their own parents. Some of us suffer a lot of heartache as we try to seek affirmation from someone. We just want somebody in particular to say, "I'm proud of you." But there comes a point when we need to realise that we may never receive that affirmation from the person we are so wanting it from. Once we reach this realisation we will experience a freedom of spirit that we have never known before. The Bible teaches us that we have been made acceptable to God through His Son and through His ordination we are adopted as His own children and as such receive His mercy and affirmation. "to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves." Ephesians 1:6. If our loved ones cannot or will not give us these things, God will. He will be our mother, father, husband or wife, whatever we need Him to be. The Lord will give us and build us up with those things that others aren't giving us. "So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God." Romans 14:12. Is there someone in your life that you are not treating right? Are you trying to blame that person for your own faults? Is there someone who is making you miserable because of his own failure or unhappiness? Often, people who have problems don't want to take responsibility for those problems. They look for a scapegoat and are willing to blame anyone for their sins. They will do anything they can to pass the blame over for their own negative attitude and behaviour. "To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood" Revelation 1:5. We need to reach a place where we are secure enough in who we are in Christ that we will not allow our sense of worth to be based on the opinions or actions of other people. You won't find your worth in what people do. You won't find your worth in how other people treat you. You are worth something because Jesus shed His blood for you. You may have faults about you that need to be changed, but God is working on you the same as He is everybody else. Don't let somebody else dump their problems on you. Don't allow someone else to make you feel worthless or useless just because he doesn't know how to treat you right and love you as you deserve to be loved as a true child of God. God wants you to constantly focus on what is right with you, not on what is wrong with you. It is however important that we recognise our faults and weaknesses. We need to keep these areas open before God all the time, and confess, "God I know I'm not perfection. I want you to work with me and change me. Show me my faults and help me overcome them Lord." Don't spend all your life trying to win somebody else's acceptance or approval. Remember that you are already accepted and approved of by God, and always ensure that your affirmation, validation and sense of self-worth come from Him and Him alone.