The Truth about Mental Health: Worth

Sense of worth = an internal awareness that as created creatures of God we have value

Where do I find my worth?

It’s a complicated question with a less complicated answer: Jesus.

Like most things in life, the belief in a God who loves me enough to die for me, who has a plan to bring me hope and a future… this belief changes everything, including my concept of where I find my worth.

Yet, is it really as simple as Jesus? Hmmmm.

Not quite. Because when we say Jesus, people (including our own selves) usually fast forward to the moment the God-man Jesus died on the cross or rose from the dead.

But what if worth started before that? What if my worth began when that same God-man decided to create people, and more specifically when God the Father decided I should go from an idea in a Father’s heart to cells knit together; that I should have arms and legs and a personality that walks around where all the other people live.

What a difference rewinding the narrative a little bit makes:

I am human, therefore I have worth.

I was created, therefore I have worth.

This grounding in our worth simply as people impacts our mental health in two ways:

One, it helps me know I’m forgivable, lovable, and redeemable.

Two, God’s delight in me and desire to be with me, and my worth are not determined by what I do.

We don’t have to fight to have worth, struggle to have worth before God or before people.

This grounding in our worth as something given to all people, including us, changes the way I interact with other people. I no longer need the people in my life to give me worth, to hand me worth, to bear the weight of my need for worth. Instead, I can more easily have relationships and friendships that are reciprocal. Reciprocal relationships remind one another of each other’s worth. They are generous and hold kindness for both parties.

In other words, without the need to understand our worth from our relationships, we can simply delight in our relationships… with God and with one another. And that’s the title of Justin Rossow’s book:

Delight! Discipleship as the Adventure of Loving and Being Loved

Justin, a former parish pastor, PhD, author, and founder of Next Step Press, is the guest on the latest episode of The Truth about Mental Health: Worth. He helps us dive into the concept of worth and seeing ourselves from a foundation of worth attributed to us by a loving God who would move heaven and earth to set us free from what would separate us from His arms. We also discuss the complex place of both repentance or our place of need before God as people who don’t have it all together and how we see our worthiness in bringing that need before God.

Tune in:

Find Justin’s many resources, including the Delight! book at these links: