It’s easy to not recognize how subtly the enemy uses other people to discount us, to leave us out, to judge us, to make us feel unqualified and not good enough. He works overtime to tear down your sense of value and worth because he knows it will take away your sense of purpose. He even tried it unsuccessfully in Jesus’ life. After Jesus had been baptized in the Jordan River and God the Father had spoken, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,” the enemy said to Him in the wilderness temptation, “If You are the Son of God…” The enemy tried to bring in confusion, to get Jesus to question His identity and purpose, His value and worth.
The enemy’s goal is to get you to forget that your true identity and worth are in Jesus, that God in His great love “chose us in Jesus Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight” (Ephesians 1:4). That makes you invaluable. He chose you and brought you into His family through your relationship with Christ. You don’t have to find your worth and identity in other people or in things of this world, because it has already been given to you in Jesus Christ.
So why does the enemy primarily attack your sense of value? It’s to make you feel unworthy to receive the gift of God’s love, the grace of God, the fullness of your salvation. He’ll whisper to you, “Look what you just did. God won’t accept you. You’re so unworthy of His love and grace.” How do you answer that? Just say, “That’s right. I am unworthy. But Jesus Christ is worthy, and my identity is fully in Him and what He did for me.” It’s almost too simple, isn’t it? That’s because God’s favor and grace are undeserved.
Don’t lessen your value by lessening what Christ did for you. He did it because He loves you. Nothing you’ve done in the past determines who you are. God has chosen you and qualified you. You may have sinned and made a lot of mistakes. We all have, but that doesn’t change your value in the eyes of God. He loves you, not because of your performance, not because you do everything perfectly, but because you are His chosen child.
When you hear those accusing voices that question your identity and your worth, that’s not from God. That is from the enemy, but you have the answer: “God chose me in Jesus Christ. I am a child of the Most High God. Nothing can lessen my value and worth.”