Worth, Significance, Security…

“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.”

Ecclesiastes 12:13

Worth, Significance, Security…

This is an unpublished series of notes that I wrote in 2016.

The notes are thoughts provoked by:

(i) studies at my church;
(ii) perceptions of Biblical application in contemporary life, emerging as a result of reading the Bible repeatedly,
(iii) life experience before I was a Christian and now,
(iv) listening to sermons,
(v) and attending a multitude of courses in life-coaching and Christian doctrine…  

Worth, Significance, Security…

A series of notes I wrote in June 2016 detailing Biblical application of the heart/mind/soul

By Stephen L France

  • In our lives, we NEED to KNOW and FEEL our worth, significance, and security. It’s absolutely imperative to our operation in daily life.
  • Worth, significance, and security are the threads that are sewn together to construct the foundation of our functionality in this world.
  • Our foundation–which is our heart/soul–is a combination of our will-power, feelings, subconscious thoughts, conscious moral decisions, and memories.
  • If WORTH, SIGNIFICANCE, and SECURITY is/are damaged, we WILL FEEL HURT, DISCOMFORTED, WOUNDED, or even TRAUMATISED depending on the level of affliction.
  • From what I’ve experienced, I’d define WORTH, SIGNIFICANCE, and SECURITY as the three factors that constitute reception of LOVE.

    In other words, when a person feels loved in a relationship, there should be a natural sense of feeling their worth (internal value), significance (their individual purpose in this world), and security (their feeling of safety).

The BIG Problem?

We are deceived into expecting our WORTH, our SIGNIFICANCE, and our SECURITY to emerge from the following areas:

  1. Title – your job, your achievements, your accomplishments, anything that gives you authority.

    Living example: When we boast of the title we have, using it to prove our worth to others.
  2. Position – very similar to title, but this is where you stand among a group of people.

    Living example: When we put effort into revealing how much our position is important to others or how much we desire a specific position.
  3. Appearance – exalting anything at all to do with the superficial, our physical appearance, clothes we wear to augment our physical appearance, jewellery, makeup, tattoos, etc.

    Living example: Needing to change our outfit multiple times before heading out. This is likely an idolatry of physical appearance, because the time and mindfulness invested into how we look takes precedence.
  4. Skills – what we can do best.

    Living example: Constant reference to or seeking of applause for the skills we possess.
  5. Associations – our relation to other people, knowing a famous celebrity, boasting of our own spouse or our children.

    Living example: Persistent talk of a specific relationship to make ourselves look better in the eyes of others.
  6. Possessions – anything material that we own.

    Living example: Repeated boasting of home ownership.
  7. Emotions – a feeling brought on by worldly/Earthly experiences or circumstances.

    Living example: Lifting up an emotion / a high and constantly pressing into that feeling for gratification.

*** [2020.4.25]

For people who have chosen a different worldview to the Christian faith, I’m aware how ridiculous the name ‘devil’ sounds.

I can’t help but find it silly myself because of Hollywood, philosophical thought, and other mediums.

The name “devil” has been made a mockery and the imagery associated of a red creature with horns, a tail, and a goatee doesn’t aid the case for the reality.

Reading the following, I request that you keep an open mind as these notes were initially intended for Christians who accept that ‘the devil’ exists…

Returning to the notes….

Why are the above seven areas problematic?

At times, it’s to be expected that the above seven areas will fill a person with a sense of worth, significance, and/or security. But there is a big problem with allowing this to occur, explained by the following points:

  • Each of the seven areas are under the the devil’s influence (we know this from the Bible’s book of Job). The devil’s influence manifested can be described as the tempting and/or condemning voice in our minds.
  • All seven areas are worldly – they are of this world so they have no longevity and will perish.
  • They are all changeable – they can be altered. None are permanent or reliable, lacking consistency as a solid foundation for a person’s worth, significance, or security.
  • They provide temporary (short-term) happiness.
  • They all can be turned into unhealthy godly idols/ addictions / strongholds.

How does the devil (the dark tempting and/or condemning voice in our minds) use these seven areas?

The devil has three main ways of attacking us according to the BIBLE:

  1. The devil and his minions directly assaulting us through whispers and spiritual attacks (we are shown this through Jesus’ own battle with the devil in the Book of Matthew).
  2. The world around us (this is talked about by Apostle Paul throughout his letters) – the devil’s influence is already rooted in media, politics, religion, fashion, TV, movies, people etc.
  3. Our own flesh/conscience. Apostle Paul talks about this in Romans 7 and other letters. Ideas, wounds of the past, deceptions placed in our own conscience that subtly work against us, our desires being twisted into selfish ambition, pride, ego – all these elements can be fashioned for our undoing.

THE BIG QUESTION IS THIS: WHERE HAVE YOU PUT YOUR HEART/SOUL?

  • If we’ve not prioritised God in our heart, it’s likely that we are prioritising one or more of the SEVEN aforementioned areas, meaning we’re gaining our WORTH, SIGNIFICANCE, and SECURITY from areas that will fail us repeatedly.
  • For prayer, we need to ask God to show us how to surrender to Him so that WORTH, SIGNIFICANCE, SECURITY founding our identity are all in Him ALONE.

    WHY?

    Because GOD is a solid, consistent foundation who WON’T FAIL US like these seven areas will.

My Struggle (back in 2016)

My biggest area right now that’s shining like neon lights is women – (This was back in 2016. By God’s grace, things have changed).

I put my sense of worth into women because of:

  •  rejection in the past.
  • never having a proper relationship with a woman.
  • seeing my mother rejecting my father after the divorce. Even though he divorced her, he would make advances to repair their relationship. This rejection moulded the idea for me that a woman’s opinion of me was of the highest importance.
  • These wounds created a desire to be the most perfect man for the perfect woman. This led to further deceptions and hurt, and some very bad life choices.
  • When we give people our worth in this accidental manner, (because we’ve been deceived into it by the devil’s deceptions), people will accidentally or purposefully break it. People can’t help but break it because human beings are fallible like everything else in this world.
  • Even our own wives or children will break our worth if we put it in them, because they are all corruptible and fallible.
  • The only thing that isn’t fallible is God.
  • This is why are worth, sense of significance, and security all have to be surrendered to God, founded in God, and exhibited through God.
  • This declaration can’t be mere words. This has to be real and so far, I’m seeing in my own walk that it takes long-standing patience with Jesus to understand this in the heart as FACT.

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