worthless

People can be pretty prickly about being disrespected. Everyone from street punks to CEOs feels entitled to respect, and it is a good principle to follow to treat everyone respectfully.

But why, really, am I worthy of respect? What is it about me that makes me feel others should treat me with deference? In the end, if what I read this morning is true, whatever value I have is directly related to how closely I follow God.

Here it is, in God’s own words, as recorded in Jeremiah 2:5-6 “This is what the Lord says: ‘What fault did your ancestors find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves. They did not ask, “Where is the Lord, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, a land of drought and utter darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?”’”

If they became worthless by following worthless idols, the same logic suggests that I gain worth or value by following God. Is there another way to gain worth? I can’t recall anything else from scripture. My value comes from being an image-bearer of God; the better I reflect him, the more value I have.

When I try to find value in my own life, either in my accomplishments or my stuff or my connections, then I’m wrong two ways, according to verse 13 of the same chapter. In that verse God says, "My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”

It’s hard to think of anything more worthless than a cistern that won’t have water. At best cisterns hold stagnant water, compared to the fresh flowing water from the living spring. But a broken cistern will be dry and empty, or maybe covered with damp muck at the bottom.

What a potent image of how much I’m worth without God! It’s worth keeping in mind, especially when I start feeling proud of myself, or thinking others should respect me. I should only care that they respect God, whose image I should strive to reflect.