He Is Worthy
When my boys were becoming teenagers, I had a sign made to hang on the inside of our home’s front door. The sign is a scripture from Psalms 101:3 that says, I will not let anything worthless guide me. Every time we leave our house, the Scripture on this sign reminds us that we have a choice of what guides us when we step into the world. My heart is that my boys will never allow the worthless things like popularity, envy, unkindness, and disrespect to guide them, because although these worthless things might sound like teenage dilemmas, worthless things can last long into adulthood and lead us down a rocky path.
Recently, I started reading through the book of Psalms again and I came across another verse that mentions worthless things. It’s found in Psalms 12:8. It says, what is worthless is exalted by the human race. I couldn’t help but write in my Bible, beside the verse, how unfortunate and true this is. It makes me grieve how the modern culture has grown into this nature of exalting worthless things, but honestly, it’s been happening since the fall of man when Eve reached for the one forbidden thing. It’s been happening since the first murder in the book of Genesis, when Cain killed his brother Abel due to jealousy. It’s been happening since Esau sold his birthright to his brother Jacob for a bowl of stew, only because he was hungry in the moment, he was willing to give up his future inheritance for the worthlessness of a right-now pleasure.
Since the beginning of the world, God has given us free will to choose what we want to exalt, but why is it so easy to exalt worthless things? It’s as if focusing on worthless things is the only way to fit in to this world. It’s easy to talk about the bad things that are taking place in this world every time we sit down with friends or family at dinner. It’s easy to talk negative about those who believe differently than us. It’s easy to blame others and point fingers on social media; even if it’s not our own words, it’s easy to share someone else’s. We’re all somewhat guilty of these things, because it’s easy to let the worthless things guide us.
All of these worthless pathways begin because of fear. Fear of us losing power or control. Fear of us losing our own lives. Fear of not fitting in or feeling accepted. Fear of uncertainty. The list goes on.
It’s why the worthless things like popularity, envy, unkindness, and disrespect abound, because Satan uses the fears of this world to exalt the worthless, all so we may “feel” exalted, rather than exalting God. It’s what guides us down the rocky paths, but thankfully, God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and sound judgement. He never intended us to live weak, or to walk pathways that only lead to more hurt. He has given us the power to overcome fear. He has given us love to look beyond sin, and judgement to say, “I don’t need this in my life.”
In this world, fear is a natural feeling, but we can’t let it lead us into exalting the worthless. What if we highlighted the Holy One and blacked out the dark one? Stop giving worthless things all of our attention and exalted The One who has victory over our fears. The One who holds the keys to death, hell, and the grave. Make your relationship with Jesus more important than your fear. Walk with joy and hope for where you get to spend eternity. If you have a personal relationship with Jesus, then exalt Jesus in every step.
The Bible says if we will pray and seek His face then he will hear from heaven and restore our land to health. I believe Him. I choose Him. He is worthy.