Where does your worth come from?

A devotional by Carlene Bexley

For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalms 139:13-18

“Mommy, do you know that your hiney wiggles when you walk?” Out of the mouth of babes! I was fixing my very observant daughter’s lunch for school one morning when out popped her observation of the day. That one, innocent (unfortunately, very accurate!) statement is enough to make a girl run straight for the gym (or a moo moo dress)! Along with it came some pretty insecure feelings about one of my “flaws,” which in turn got me thinking about the other not-so-great qualities (at least in my mind) I possess. Can anyone relate? Needless to say, I didn’t go to the gym but headed for a box of chocolates (why do we do that?!)

What are your self-proclaimed “flaws”? Is there a body part you are itching to fix? Perhaps it’s your wardrobe. Maybe it’s your house. Is it your personality? Your financial or social status? It can even be a hubby or kids. Maybe it’s your past. Do you allow these things to define who you are?

Well, do I have some good news for you! God says you are amazing. He says you are wonderful. In fact, He takes such great delight in you that He personally knit you together before you were born. He oversaw the whole process, so you were created just right. He is so crazy about you that He thinks about you all the time (Psalm139:17-18). Zephaniah 3:17 says, “The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” You have a Creator, a Savior that delights in you. You have a Daddy God that not only delights in you, but takes great delight! You are cherished and adored by God Almighty! That’s enough to make a girl do a giddy-dance, flaws and all! So we have a choice: we can either continue to think of ourselves in a worldly, flawed way, nit-picking all the things we wish we could fix, or we can practice (it is a process) thinking and applying what the Lover of our soul thinks about us.


So when your thoughts head south about your perceived lack of worth or what you would like to fix, grab yourself some note cards and write down verses about what God thinks about you (Psalms 139 and Zephaniah 3:17 are great places to start!). Carry them with you wherever you go and meditate on what God says about you day and night. Personalize it, apply it to your particular insecurity, and make it your own. Think about it; chew on it until it becomes a part of who you are to the depths of your soul. It will bless those around you if you apply it to them too!


A favorite quote of mine comes from the book Search for Significance, by Robert S. McGee: “I have great worth apart from my performance. Christ died for me, and therefore imparted great value to me. I am deeply loved, fully pleasing, totally forgiven, accepted and complete in Christ.” If you have accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior, that is Truth for you! If not, it’s yours just for the asking! So back to my to my wiggly hiney…I have had another child since “the dreaded comment,” so my hiney wiggles even more (the things we women go through!!). But, through God’s amazing grace, I can now say “I have great worth, wiggly hiney and all!”