Worth, Value, is based on expression not possession

Do we ever feel that our value, self-worth seems very much lacking? Do we ever feel worthless? Then what are we basing our worth on? Is it human success, possessions, bank accounts, number of friends, our social calendar? Or are we seeing a higher sense of worth and value?

In looking up the word “Worth” the definition that jumped out at me was “Value; that quality of a thing which renders it useful, or which will produce an equivalent good in some other thing.”

In looking at this I loved the idea that worth and value are based upon qualities that render themselves as useful!  The only qualities that we know that does this are spiritual qualities from God.  God’s qualities such as goodness, tenderness, compassion, love, gentleness, forgiveness, consideration, thoughtfulness all can be rendered as very useful in our day to day experience. They ‘produce an equivalent of good in other things.’  These qualities bring out the good we express with others and how we see ourselves. The more we use these qualities by expressing them the more value we can see about ourselves and others!

In studying a Proverb we read, “The tongue of the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked is little worth.”¹

To me this helps begin the process of today’s work…’the tongue of the ‘just’ is as choice silver’.

This tongue can not only be the one we use towards others outwardly while speaking.  But it also can be used against ourselves and others inwardly in our thinking.  How important if we want to be just and as ‘choice sliver’ worthwhile and valuable, that this inward tongue be gracious, loving, kind, forgiving and not egotistical, comparing, competitive!  How important it is for us to feel valuable and then to think and speak what is spiritually worthy.

The above quote from Proverbs includes: “The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom. The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.”²

The qualities God renders as useful to us are never based upon material things, people, places, jobs. These all come and go. What He counts as worthy, worthwhile, are the qualities He created for each of us to express and entertain. Qualities such as kindness, patience, grace have nothing to do with possessions or human success. He sees our value and worth as spiritual.  If we are to feel and see our own worth as very valuable we must base our worth on what God has created us to be.  

If we do not feel very valuable, then what are we weighing in the balances of our own self-worth? What are we putting into our day’s activities that would register a value? Is the higher percentage of our actions and thoughts based upon ill-will, envy, anger, resentment, competition, stepping on our fellow man to gain some better position, self-justification?  Or are our thoughts of a sweeter nature, such as being and expressing goodness, happiness for others, patience, understanding, forgiveness? Is this poly-annaism? NO! It is seeing that our worthless feelings or our feeling of value is based upon our actions towards others and our thoughts about ourselves.

“All that is worth reckoning is what we do, and the best of everything is not too good, but is economy and riches.”³

“Happiness consists in being and doing good; only what God gives, and what we give ourselves and others through His tenure, confers happiness; conscious worth satisfies the hungry heart, and nothing else can.”⁴

When we are putting our own self-worth in the scales and balances of this thought, ‘happiness consists in being and doing good’ then the ‘qualities rendered as useful’ is based upon sharing happiness and giving to ourselves and others ‘His tenure’.

Are we valuing ourselves based upon things we have or the qualities we are expressing? Are we expressing love or hatred, resentment, anger, hurt feelings or patience, understanding, forgiveness? The qualities that we are rendering if they are to be ‘useful’ have to be good. This makes us feel happy and worth a lot more.

Let us make sure that our self-worth is based upon the righteousness of God’s Goodness and that we express and embrace this Love. For the Proverbs continues and ends with, “The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish. The way of the Lord is strength to the upright: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity. The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth. The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom: but the froward tongue shall be cut out. The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable: but the mouth of the wicked speaketh frowardness.”⁵

Our worth is spiritual made up of the nature and qualities of God and His supreme righteousness, the qualities He created us to express.  This is true worth.

Gentle hugs


1 The King James Version of the Holy Bible Proverbs 10 vs. 20
2 ibid Proverbs 10 vss. 21, 22
3 Miscellany Writings by Mary Baker Eddy page 203 line 10
4 Message to The First Church of Christ, Scientists, 1902 by Mary Baker Eddy page 17 line 24
5 The King James Version of the Holy Bible Proverbs 10 vss. 28-32