Price vs. Worth

I was talking to my wife yesterday about Jesus dying on the cross for us. Now, I know all of the biblical points about sin leading to death, and that Jesus took our sin (and it's penalty) on himself, but I was struck by something. Jesus paid an incredibly high price for me.

"Every man has his price" is a terribly abused idiom in the movies. But, in a lot of ways, I'm convinced that it's true. I'm also convinced that my price is rather low. Now, I'm not talking about money. If you offered me money to do something despicable, I think I'd likely turn it down. My pride would prevent me from accepting that kind of thing. That's the problem though, God doesn't work with money. I wouldn't be willing to lie to friends and family for money, but I find that I do lie to the people around me to avoid embarrassment. My price therefore, seems to be my reputation. I sell my view of myself in order to preserve others view of me. That's my price.

My price comes in a lot of forms, I find that I'm quick to fall into sin to preserve my pride. Let me screw something up at work, and I'm quick to think of how I could manage the situation, cover my mistake, preserve my pride. I'm far too slow at thinking of how I can go to my supervisor and say, "I messed this up." Show me a pretty girl, and I'm quick to fall into lust. My price is a pretty face.

In light of all this, Jesus death on the cross seems to have had precious little to do with my price. It seems instead that God was saying, in a tangible way, "This is what you're worth". Jesus death paid the "price" for my sins, but also set my "worth" in God's eyes. It appears that God thinks I'm worth quite a bit.

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about all of this, the idea of what God thinks I'm worth, and how that affects the way I see myself. Look for this in upcoming posts. Thanks.