Intro

F.A.S – The most expensive item in the world

Have you ever heard of the trolly problem. It states that there is a trolly heading down a rail. If it’s not diverted it will run over three people, killing them. You have a switch which you can throw. If you do, it will divert the trolly and it will only kill one person. People’s answers to this problem can tell you a lot about the and how they see others. Let’s play it.

https://neal.fun/absurd-trolley-problems/

Really, it’s a problem about how you see the value of human life. What is a human life worth. More specifically, what is my life worth? How do I see my own self worth? Understanding our own self worth changes how we see our own lives. How can we judge what we’re worth.

Body

False Answer 1 – We’re worth what we can do

Explanation

One way to see what we’re worth is based on what we can do. One of the big reasons that when we’re in school that we’re pressured to work hard is so we can be worth more. You have to do well in school so you can go to college, get a good degree, and get a good well paying job. You need to be a person of worth so you can get a good spouse and be a pillar of the community. It happens in almost any context you find yourself in, not just school. If you play sports then you need to work hard so you’re worth more to the team. Players that are better or worth more get special treatment. They get to start and they get all the glory. If you’re riding the bench, then you’re not worth much, right?

Illustration

Did you know that the government has an official way of placing a price tag on human life? In fact, they employ a team of people who have created an equation that can place a dollar value on your life. The government has to make choices about regulations and their impact. If you have ever had to fill out government paperwork, then you’ll know that the government doesn’t really work on how you feel. Instead, they have to have real numbers based on real life measurements, so it makes sense that they have a way of actually turning a human life into a dollar amount. They then use this dollar amount and judge it against the cost to implement a new policy. Here’s how it works. Let’s say that the government wants to implement a policy that would require manufacturers to add additional labels to their products. This would cost a company like 100 million dollars a year. Now we just need to take that number and figure out if the cost of lives saved would be less or more than that number. The government has calculated that an average human life is worth 10 million dollars. So if that label would save 10 people, then it’s worth it because it saved as much as it cost, but if that label would only save 9 people, then it isn’t worth doing. That’s only saving 90 million dollars worth of people compared to the 100 million it would cost to add the label. It feels a bit, slimy to think of it like that, right? We’d like to say that a human life is priceless, but not to the government and certainly not to a big corporation. Everyone has a price. When you get a job, the company you work for will decide what to pay you, and in a way that’s what you’re worth. They may also decide what it would cost if you died in an accident at work vs. what it would cost to prevent your death. That doesn’t feel good either, but it’s true. In fact, that’s mostly how the world will see you, as a dollar amount, and it will pressure you to do as much as you can to make that dollar amount higher.

Application

So one way is to look at yourself like the world does, where you’re worth what you can contribute. Better do well in school so you can go to college, so you can be worth paying lots of money. People will only want you around if you can do things for them. You’re worth is directly tied to how much money you can make. It’s all about the rat race, make lots of money so you can have the nice car, the big house, all the latest gadgets, go on expensive vacations and you can show the whole world that you’re really something. The only problem with this is you and I both know deep down, that’s not what we’re truly worth. The world doesn’t necessarily reward hard work. The sad truth is that some of the hardest working people in the world who do the most important jobs don’t get paid what their worth. We saw that during the pandemic when essential workers were cooks, janitors, service industry workers, teachers, all these people work harder than some of the richest people in the world and they doing nearly get paid what they deserve. The world doesn’t reward hard workers, it rewards people who are ruthless enough to lie, cheat, and steal to get what they want. This just sets us up to become workaholics, addicted to always trying to do more and more. In the end, you may have everything you’d ever want but you’d have to sell your soul.

False Answer 2 – We’re worth what others say we are

Explanation

Another way we can see what we’re worth is based on what others believe about our worth. Someone who has a lot of family and many friends is someone who is successful. They’re a person others want to be around. This isn’t that weird of an idea. I remember when I was in middle school this new website was invented called MySpace. It was the first real big social media site. You got to have your own profile, but you could basically customize it almost any way you wanted. Mine even played my favorite music when you visited my page. You could leave comments on people’s profiles, message each other, and all sorts of stuff. The site finally allowed you to really see what you were worth to others. There was this thing call your top 8. Out of all your friends, you could pick 8 and only 8 of them to display in a special place right on your profile and let me tell you, this ended people’s friendships. Who your top 8 were was a huge deal.

Illustration

 It was a bit crazy looking back on it, but it’s not any more crazy that what social media does to us today. Instead of rating our friends, we now rate ourselves against our friends. Imagine the world is controlled by a social media rating system. Everyone has a rating on a scale of 5 and you can rate others. Depending on your rating, you may not be allowed to eat at certain restaurants, get a plane ticket, or live in a neighborhood. In the following clip you’ll meet Lacie, a person who starts at a 4.3 and is desperate to make it to 4.6 to rent a new apartment. Unfortunately, she runs into a bit of trouble on her way to her friend’s wedding and her social score starts to, well, take a nosedive which leads to her finding herself looking for a r on the side of the road. That’s where this clip starts.

Application

This idea isn’t too far off what we all experience today. We constantly end up comparing ourselves to others, chasing more followers and likes. Instead, we can look to everyone else to tell us what we’re worth. The internet makes it easier than ever to find out what everyone thinks about you. How many followers do you have on Twitter or Tik Tok. What does the group chat say on Snapchat about you? Gotta get those likes up. What’s the craziest thing you’d do for followers? Maybe you’d eat a tide pod, steal a sink, or perhaps film yourself beating up that weird kid in your school. Make everyone else happy and that’s what will tell you what you’re worth. The only problem is that you’ll make everyone else happy except yourself. You’ll be so busy crafting a life that everyone else likes that you’ll forget who you really are. One day you’ll wake up and realize that you’ve been so busy making everyone else happy, that you’re not really happy yourself. You may have lots of followers, but you’ll be miserable. In reality, you’re just a slave to what everyone else wants. Simply put, if everyone else gets to tell you what you’re worth then you’re not really free. You’re enslaved to everyone else.

True answer – See yourself as God sees you

Explanation

If we can’t base our worth on what we can do or what others think of us, then how can we understand what we’re worth. Let’s look at what scripture says. Check out PS 139:13-14. This Psalm was written by this guy named David who was the king of Israel for some time. In this Psalm he is writing about God’s relationship with him and how awesome and amazing God is. He says things like “God, you know everything about me. You know what I’m going to say before I say it. There’s no where I can hide from you.” So in all this stuff talking about how awesome and amazing God is, David then writes these two verses.

      For it was you who created my inward parts;

      you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

      I will praise you

      because I have been remarkably and wondrously made.,

      Your works are wondrous,

      and I know this very well.

David is saying here that all of God’s works are wonderous. Everything that God has made is astounding, and God made you? So what does that mean? If everything that God makes is so amazing, and God made you then that means you’re amazing. David even says this, “I have been remarkably and wondrously made.” Jesus even says this in Mat 10:29-31.

Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s consent. 30 But even the hairs of your head have all been counted. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Two little birds are only worth one penny, and yet God cares about them. You’re worth way more than two birds! God even knows every hair on your head. That is how much you matter to Him. Think about all the things God has made. The same hands that carved out the ocean, that hung the stars in the sky, that crafted the mountains, that brought forth all life on this planet, those same hands made you. You’re worth is given to you by the creator of the universe, because He made you. You’re worth more than anything else in all creation. He wants you so bad that He even gave His son, Jesus, to get you back. You are priceless to God, and that is all that matters.

Conclusion

Main Point

You have to see your worth as God see you.

Application

The only way to truly understand what you’re really worth is to see yourself as God see you. That can’t happen though if you’re constantly trying to prove what you’re worth. If you’re stuck calculating your value based on what you can do, then you’ll never see yourself as God sees you. You’re obsessed with being the best student you can because you’re worth is tangled up in your grades. You study not so you can be a good student but because you’re afraid you’ll be worthless if you slip and fail. You train hard because you’re entire identity is tied up in being an athlete, so you have to train to hard not because you want to be a better athlete, but because you’ve put yourself under this enormous pressure to perform because you’re afraid to mess up and be a failure. Your identity is tied up in everything you can do for others that you’re afraid if they don’t find you useful or helpful then you’re worthless. I know how that is. More than anything, this is what I struggle with too. I’m afraid that if I can’t be a good pastor, a good student, a good husband, or a good friend that I’m worthless and not having around. Let me tell you, that it’s a lie. You’re worth so much more than what you can do. You’re worth so much more than that to God. The thing is that you don’t need to do anything for God for Him to love you. God loves you just as if you are the only person in the world simply because He made you. You don’t have to try with God. Whether you become a  superstar athlete or you never play sports again, God still loves you the same. Whether you become a super genius and go to a super famous school or you go to a trade school, or you barely pass high school, God loves you all the same. There’s nothing you need to do to earn God’s love. You’re already worth the world to Him.

But some of you struggle instead with worrying about what everyone else thinks about you. You’ll never be able to see yourself as God sees you if you’re constantly worried about what other people think about you. For too long you’ve been trapped, caged in because you care more about what other people think about you rather than what God thinks about you. You’re constantly worried about being good enough for everyone else. You have to be funny enough, cool enough, strong enough, beautiful enough, or be enough for everyone else, because what everyone else thinks about you is what you think about yourself. You’re so afraid to be yourself because you’re afraid people won’t like you. So you’ve never gave anyone a chance to get to know the real you. Let me tell you, that’s a lonely sort of life to live. Fortunately, God knows you. The real you. You don’t have to put on a show or be someone you’re not for God to love you. You’re worth the world to God simply for who you are.

If we really want to know what we’re worth, then we have to see ourselves as God sees us. Each and every one of us was created by God and that makes us all priceless. It’s time you started to see yourself as God sees you, not worried about what you can do for others or trying to be someone you’re not. You’re exactly who you need to be because God created you. He made you and you meant so much to Him that He sent His son, Jesus, to die for you. It’s time to view yourself as He does, priceless.