Are You Significant?

 All of us have built-in personal worth needs. One of these, love and acceptance, is so crucial to our sense of well-being that we could hardly function if we were convinced that no one loved us. We concluded that this is a God-given need and that no earthly substitutes can perfectly fulfill it. We must turn instead to the One who implanted it within us, the One who created the cosmos and was crucified at Calvary. Only in Him will we find unconditional love and consistent acceptance. When we place our complete trust in Jesus, we receive a new identity as beloved sons and daughters of the King.

Not all believers realize the implications of this. Many still find their identity in what others think of them or in what they think of themselves. It is only when we find our identity in what God thinks of us as members of His family that we become free to love others without manipulating them to love us in return.

The second personal worth need we looked at was significance and identity. We saw that in spite of so many desperate efforts to satisfy this need in the pursuit of possessions and status, none of these things can fill the void. Once again, our quest will only end in the One who placed this need within us. We were created to know God and to find in our relationship with Him the joy and meaning we seek. Thus, God in His love and mercy uses our needs to drive us from futility to fulfillment.

The ultimate source of our significance is our position as members of the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:27). We have been qualified to “share in the inheritance of the saints in light” (Col. 1:12). As an extension of the incarnation of Christ, we are coheirs of His heavenly kingdom. It was for us that He prayed on the night before His crucifixion, “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:20-21, NIV). When we realize that our true significance and identity rests in this reality, we are freed from the trap of impressing others to find meaning and purpose for ourselves.

Let me always understand my significance as a member of the body of Christ. Amen.