Know your worth. It’s a Christian cliche we all love to use, but sometimes use it without depth. As cliche as it may be, it’s also one of those that if we actually accept it, it will change our lives.
I was walking clothed in insecurity in high school and I looked for happiness in all the wrong places. I can truthfully say that if God hadn’t met me where I was at at sixteen years old, my testimony would be a lot different. But by the grace of God, I am writing this testimony. (Read more here)
Sarah B.C. (I like to reference my life before I met Jesus as Sarah Before Christ (B.C.)) didn’t know about worth. The only time I ever used the word ‘worth’ was when I said something wasn’t worth it, which is funny because that’s how I felt about myself. I wasn’t worth it.
In high school, I wasn’t worth my friend’s time, or my family’s love, or even the acknowledgement of a cute boy, and that’s heartbreaking to the awkward and searching teenager. I just simply wasn’t worthy of what I wanted to be worthy of.
But then I read the stories of Jesus and His love for me. I read how Jesus isn’t just the Son of God, but a real man who walked the earth. He was kind and loving to the people. He was compassionate to the woman caught in adultery. He healed people, and tended to their needs. I read how Jesus prayed in the garden, full of sorrow and distress, and sweating blood. I read how He was beat and forced to carry the cross. I read that His side was pierced and He died. I also read that three days later, the stone was rolled away and the tomb was empty. Then I read that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
I heard a sermon where the pastor said that as Jesus was praying in the garden, asking the Father to let the hour pass, He saw each and everyone of our faces and because He loved us so much, He knew He had to do it. My heart was full of overwhelming love, because as the pastor said that I knew that Jesus looks at me and says, “She is worth it.”
I was completely overtaken by this Jesus that I sought Him with every part of my being. I read the Bible, prayed, and worshiped Him. He removed layer upon layer of insecurity and clothed me in His love. He made my eyes see the beauty in myself. He told me that it’s okay if humans don’t see me, because He sees me. He Knows me. He loves me.
I ran to Jesus full of heaviness and hurt, and He took the weights off and healed my heart. He told me that I was created with careful intent and detail, for a purpose, and in God’s image. Anything that was hovering over me that went against any of those truths He had taken to the cross. He told me that it wasn’t mine to carry. He told me it wasn’t my identity.
I saw life through new eyes; my heart now established in the love of Jesus. I realized that Jesus is my source of life, and therefore His is the only standard I have to live for; not my friend’s, family’s, or society’s dating standard, and that is very good news for a teenage girl. I didn’t care about dating after that, and if a guy came around, I made sure He fit into God’s standard for me.
You see, as you draw near to God and He draws near to you, He speaks to your heart and molds it. It’s not an over-night thing. It’s something that happens over time and keeps happening as you get closer to Jesus. And as you get closer to Jesus, you know what is of Him and what is not of Him. Including the people you date and how you date.
I wrote in a previous post that purity is living in such a way that shows you belong to God. When your worth is found in Jesus and what He did for you on the cross, you live differently. You date differently. You know how you should be treated and how you should treat someone. You know what you should do to/with someone and what you should allow to be done to/with you. Sex before marriage isn’t only wrong because it’s outside of God’s will, but because you are worth the gift of sex that God wants to give you.
I can tell you all about your worth. How God created you in His image. How He is mindful of you. How He knows the number of hairs on your head. And how Jesus, before He went to the cross, prayed for you, asking the Father that you would experience the same love that God has for Him. I could tell you these things over and over again, but until you accept what Jesus did for you on the cross, it won’t change you. Until you develop a personal relationship with Jesus, you won’t know your true value.
Let Jesus in to your heart. He desires you. He wants you to accept the love of the Father. He wants you to place your heart in His hands, so He can fix it, mold it to look like His, and protect it. Pay close attention to these words: you are so incredibly loved. You are so special. Jesus has made you worthy. Jesus came so you can live an abundant life- full of love, joy, peace, and everything else He wants to give you. Sex outside of marriage will not give you that because that is not in His plan for sex.
You are too special of a person to allow anything outside of God’s plan for intimacy between a man and a woman. Get to know Jesus and you will know your worth.
See you next week,
Love, Sarah Lynn
Jesus, I thank you for what You did on the cross. I thank you for taking all of my burdens, hurt, pain, and any other affliction to the cross and giving me abundant life. Jesus help me know You. Draw near to me as I draw near to You. Place a desire for Your presence so strong in me that I do everything I can to see You and know You more. I ask that You clothe me on Your love and open my eyes to see myself the way You see me. Take my heart and make it like Yours. Keep me and protect me. Thank You for Your love. Amen.
““Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”” – John 17:24-26
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More on purity here –> https://lovesarahlynn.com/2018/08/15/what-does-purity-even-mean/
Love, Sarah Lynn 
Great post! Shared.
Thank you for reading and sharing. I appreciate it!