worth

My quiet time today was Isaiah 51 and it was really packed so trying to get all my thoughts together....

1. Self-worth
This was really the main idea I took out from here mainly because it's something I've been thinking about recently because of thoughts about the future and stufffs. Basically what God is saying in this passage is that we shouldn't worry about what the world thinks of us and, I suppose, what worth the world puts on us because we have Him! Particularly interesting today...two of my friends reminded me of this before this quiet time. One of them was addressing my "need" to be picked and she just said: "Why do you need people to pick you? You already know your worth." This resonated when I read the Word just then because I guess it reminded me that in ALL contexts (ministry included) I am not defined by how much potential people see in me but rather, I am defined by Christ alone. My other friend was talking to me about scholarships and how co-op was the 'prize' and I expressed that I felt although my whole future was riding on whether or not I got this scholarship. His response was: "Jesus is the real prize, and you already have Him". So that was a great reminder, again, that worth is defined by Christ, not how appropriate someone thinks I am for any particular role.
LOOK LOOOK LOOK

"Hear me, you who know what is right,

you people who have taken my instruction to heart:

Do not fear the reproach of mere mortals

or be terrified by their insults.

For the moth will eat them up like a garment;

the worm will devour them like wool.

But my righteousness will last forever,

my salvation through all generations." 

Isaiah 51:7-8

And again in v12-13

"I, even I, am he who comforts you.

Who are you that you fear mere mortals,

human beings who are but grass,

that you forget the LORD your maker,

who stretches out the heavens

and who lays the foundations of the earth,

that you live in constant terror every day

because of the wrath of the oppressor,

who is bent on destruction?

For where is the wrath of the oppressor?"

Isaiah 51:12-13

2. Everlasting salvation

Sort of relates to the previous point but this was about God's salvation and how it lasts forever. Sounds simple, but its quite profound. It lasts foreeverrrrrrr, even though our world which seems to important will fade away

"Lift up your eyes to the heavens,

look at the earth beneath;

the heavens will vanish like smoke,

the earth will wear out like a garment

and its inhabitants die like flies.

But my salvation will last forever,

my righteousness will never fail"

Isaiah 51:6

3. We are God's people

Has it ever occurred to you that God, the creator of everything, chose you? This God who created EVERYTHING, calls us His people. Wow. 

"I who set the heavens in place, 

who laid the foundations of the earth,

and who say to Zion,

'You are my people'"

Isaiah 51:16b

kbye