Characteristic of Value in Christ

Before the Lord showed me all the things that I depended on to feel good about myself, I would have said that my value was in Christ, I would have thought that He alone gave me worth. My life, however, was lived completely opposite to that truth. I now understand the difference and it has revolutionized my life!

The difference, I believe, can be summarized in the concept of one word: fluctuation.
Fluctuate: uncertain change, up and down or back and forth; change that is unpredictable and unexpected.
The kind of uncertain change that happens when you walk on little grains of sand.
Value that comes from my flesh always fluctuates.

When I felt value by being heard, I talked, people listened, my value went up. When people stopped listening, my value went down, it fluctuated. If someone disagreed with me, I felt value slipping away and in desperation I would argue defensively to hold on to my value. When someone else got praise, I wanted to diminish the value of their accomplishment. Why? Because their increase in value meant a decrease in mine. I felt cheated and only by creating an equality in value could I restore fair balance to my world. My value was in a constant state of fluctuation all day, every day, and all the while I entertained the delusion that I found my value in Christ alone!
What a farce!
Like the swing of a pendulum, my value in the flesh is enhanced or threatened by outside forces, by the words and actions of others.
In contrast, my value in Christ exists on its own, unchanged, rock solid.
How can you know whether you are placing your value in Christ or not? How can you pinpoint those little or big fluctuations in your value? Do you ever wish you could truly live your life in Christ, free from constant insecurity?

Ask the Spirit to show you where your value is coming from.
Consider these questions to identify how and why your value fluctuates.

Does your sense of worth get hungry? 

Does it depend on your actions or the reactions of others? 

Is it influenced to go up or go down by what others do or say? 

Do you find yourself choosing behavior that will gain more attention to your worth? 

Do you need to justify your behavior so that others will not get the “wrong idea” about you?

Your value in Christ cannot and will not fluctuate!
It is Rock solid!

Never changing!

Totally independent of anything you can do!

My Closet of Value

The "I can't find anything to wear" syndrome!

My roommate in college was probably the bubbliest, happiest person I have ever known, but even she could not avoid this syndrome. In fact, she fell victim to the worst case I have ever seen. One afternoon I returned to my room, shocked to find her bed buried in what seemed like 3 feet of clothing! Later, she admitted to literally pulling out every piece of clothing she had in an effort to "find something to wear". What does it really mean when we say there is nothing to wear in my closet? It means that there is nothing to wear that makes me feel good.

My value system is like my closet. Here's how:
I am feeling bad about myself today, so I open my closet to see what I could put on to make myself feel better.  "Hmmm," I say to myself, "maybe I'll try this", and I pull out "being needed". "No," I think, "I need something better today." So I start looking through the closet, moving the hangers one by one, "looking beautiful", "a boy's attention", "something I own", "the best grade", "popularity", "being useful", "recognition", etc.

What's in your closet of value?
What can you find in there that will make you feel good when you need it?

Beauty

a good Body image

your Abilities

the Admiration of important people

when others show you Appreciation

getting Praise

being treated Fairly 

seeing Justice done

attention from Men 

(getting a boyfriend, a husband

having a father)

having a Child

the best Possessions

a higher Education

a good paying Job

being involved in Ministries 

Spiritual gifts

a Position of importance

Good behavior

Being right

keeping a standard of Perfection

not Disappointing

that others have a Good Opinion of you

 receiving Approval

making Friends

your friends Prefer you

being Popular

making lots of Money

Accomplishments

And of course, none of these are valuable to you unless you are seen "wearing" them.

Is there a problem here? Is there any thing hanging in my "closet" that I can keep?

A Shaky Foundation

As a child, I wanted to be heard and I hated being ignored, so I developed a habit of talking, allot. This "habit" included constantly repeating myself, talking louder than those around me, and even worse, interrupting someone already talking. When you talk like that, people tune you out, or avoid you altogether. Unfortunately, I didn't get that memo, but I did begin to sense that people didn't want to be around me.
Panic! This was not good!
I needed those people to make me feel "ok", losing them just made me feel desperate, which in turn made me more annoying. You can see where I'm going with this. My behavior drove away the very people I needed in order to feel affirmed.

Eventually, just being heard was not satisfying enough, I needed others to agree with me. It was not okay knowing someone disagreed, that was equivalent to being wrong! (tremors and shudders) What tactic did I use if I couldn't get them to agree? I simply said it again, repeatedly, as if repetition would convince them that I was right.

My need to be heard along with my annoying behavior, presented quite the dilemma. The value gained by one was constantly being eroded by the other. Victimized by my own voice, I was my worst enemy. To this day, I still stiffen at being told to stop talking or that I am too loud. I can still feel desperate inside at being overlooked or slighted.  It takes me right back to shaky ground and I instinctively reach out for my flesh to make me feel confident about myself.

When your confidence is shaken, what do you instinctively reach out for?
Why are you loved? What do you have to do in order to be loved?
What are you good at? Why do people usually compliment you?
How many ways are you successful at feeling good about yourself?
Like a magician who pulls the rabbit out of his hat for applause, what do you pull out of your bag of tricks to get pumped up when you feel down?

This forms the foundation of what makes you confident, of what gives you value, unfortunately, it is a foundation made up of little grains of sand. Those little grains of sand always keep shifting.

Solid Ground or Sinking Sand

There's a boardwalk on the Jersey shore. I've walked it while juggling my chair, towel, cooler and umbrella; it's an awkward, bulky load but manageable as long as I am walking on the boards. Step off the boardwalk and onto the sand, though, and it all falls apart. Little grains of sand that move, do not a firm foundation make. If you have ever tried to walk in sand, you know what I'm talking about.

Whether we walk confidently or stumble along can be predicted by the ground under our feet. A firm foundation provides sure footing, a sense of security, confidence in our walk. Lose your balance, and instinctively you reach out for something to steady yourself, something to grab on to. In the same way, when your confidence in yourself is shaken, you reach out for something to steady yourself.

What that looks like, exactly, depends on what foundation you've been laying under your feet. By foundation, I mean those things that make you feel good about yourself, that make you feel "ok". Most likely since childhood, you have been accumulating and recording all kinds of things that have made you feel valuable or loveable.  You've learned through reinforcement that, "When I behave a certain way, I get love. This must be good, so I will keep repeating it. When I do this, however, I don't get love or acceptance. This must be bad, I need to hide it and never do it again." While this data has shaped you, it has also taunted you with a sense of shaky confidence. You've built a foundation for how you think and act, but is it solid ground or sinking sand?
Is it based on truth or lies?

Edward Mote, preacher and hymn writer in England during the 1800s, wrote this chorus for his best known hymn,
"On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
all other ground is sinking sand,
all other ground is sinking sand."

On Christ I stand firm, He is solid Rock beneath my feet, anything else but Him is as firm as sand.
Your head tells you that you are standing on that Rock.

Do your feet agree?

Can I repeat the question: Why does all the good I do seem to do no good?

Two things to consider:
1. Just because it looks good to you, doesn't mean it is of the Spirit.
2. What is begun in the flesh, does not lead to a walk in the Spirit

The Bobsled
Two men, using all the strength they have in their legs, push their sled along 50 meters of an icy track in order to gain as much speed as they can before jumping into the sled and carefully steering down a winding and perilous runway.

I think we sometimes get the wrong idea about our Christian life and treat it like a bobsled race. Using our own strength, we try to give ourselves a good "push" to godly living, and somehow assume, that at some point, we can just jump onto the Holy Spirit and He'll pick up the pace, continuing in the same direction.

Well now, since you put it like that, you say, it sounds bad, but is it really such a bad thing to try hard? Is it wrong to make an effort? Doesn't Paul, in his letters to Timothy, tell him to "fight the good fight", "be diligent to present yourself approved to God", "pursue righteousness"? Doesn't God expect me to do my part first?

I am not advocating spiritual laziness, but neither do I want to support fleshly arrogance. I am saying that what I do in the flesh, even though it seems full of good efforts, is not going to be picked up and carried on by the Spirit. Remember, the flesh and the Spirit are constantly opposed to each other. They do not, at any time, work together towards the same goal, they cannot share the same path.
Put it to the test:
Flesh: desires to be glorified, seeks self-satisfaction.
Spirit: desires to glorify God, seeks self-sacrifice.

How certain are you that all your good efforts are in the Spirit? Is God impressed by your attempts at godly living? Are you willing to stand on the ground that your desires match those of the Spirit?

Why does ALL the good I do seem to do NO good?

I have concluded, therefore, that my flesh deceives me; it wants and desires what is bad for me. Flesh and the Holy Spirit cannot and do not walk in harmony with each other; the desires of the one present direct opposition to the other.

Don't you find Paul's description of this opposition amazingly relevant to us today?
"I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing." Ro. 7:15, 18-19 

However, not all that flesh does looks like sin; it doesn't always have the appearance of evil.
"If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of this world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, 'do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!'  (which all refer to things destined to perish with the using) in accordance with the commandments and teaching of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence." Colossians 2:20-23

If you have died with Christ, then why do you live as if you still belong to the world? Why do you allow yourself to be dictated by man-made rules? These have all the appearance of spirituality, but in reality have no value against the flesh, or as the Amplified Version puts it "they are of no value in checking the indulgence of the flesh".
I would like to propose that too much of what we achieve as "good" is really done in the flesh and consequently, has no power against the flesh. Flesh tries really hard to be acceptable in the eyes of man, it makes a really good show of walking in the Spirit, it fakes the appearance of wisdom really well. Really!

James warns me about this kind of wisdom.
"But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing." (3:14-16 NASV)

OUCH James!

In truth, I find that the whole book of James is a direct assault against the inner workings of the flesh in my self-righteous little soul. His letter exposes everything my flesh prefers and calls me to practice everything my flesh hates. It's like James is addressing a church full of people like me, people trying to do good on their own strength, people trying to look "spiritual". Ruthlessly, he peels back the surface to show the ugliness that is the reality inside.
For example:
James: "Consider it joy to encounter a variety of trials",
My flesh: "Pain is bad and should be avoided at all costs."
James: "Do not be deceived, I am enticed by my own lusts",
My flesh: "I'm not responsible, it's not my fault."
James: "Quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger",
My flesh: "I like to look good, I like to feel good, I like to say what's on my mind."
James: "Don't show personal favoritism",
My flesh: "Ooh, those people are awkward, I hope they don't sit near me."
James: "If any man thinks he is religious but doesn't bridle his tongue, he deceives himself. The tongue is a restless evil full of deadly poison",
My flesh: "C'mon, my tongue isn't as bad as all that! Idiot!"
James: "Quarrels and conflicts arise because I'm thinking about how to please myself",
My flesh: "I know, don't you hate it when people are so stubborn about doing it their way!"
James: "Submit myself to God",
My flesh: "This is how I want it to go, God, I expect You to follow the plan."
James: "Be humble",
My flesh: "Yeah, I'm so glad you said that, James, I can think of several people who need to learn humility".
James: "Don't criticize my brother in Christ",
My flesh: "There are plenty of us who think the same way, we've all talked about it"
James: "Don't complain about my brother in Christ",
My flesh: "It's just my opinion"
James: "Patiently endure suffering",
My flesh: Scratch, scratch, scratch; "Rather Die First"
And finally,
James: "Confess my sins to one another",
My flesh: But... but... they might think I'm not perfect!

We've been looking at the ugly side of our flesh, at those lusts that deceive us. Now we will focus in another direction. This time we are going to look at how we put our confidence in the flesh. This is the side of our flesh that gives us strength, that makes us feel capable, the side that you want people to see.