The Source of our Dignity<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nDo you have any idea of what you are worth in the eyes of God? \u00a0Words can barely describe it.<\/p>\n
The modern world has a skewed view of what gives a person dignity. We tend to think that our dignity is tied up in our possessions, our status, our accomplishments or our position in society.\u00a0 But none of these things is powerful enough or stable enough to convey the innate dignity that each of us has in the eyes of God.<\/p>\n
A friend of mine is caring for his elderly father.\u00a0 His father can do little for himself. He is weak and sickly and it is difficult for him to get out of bed.\u00a0 But my friend loves his father.\u00a0 He visits him daily in the nursing facility.\u00a0 He brings his father little treats and tokens of his affection.\u00a0 He tells the staff stories of his father\u2019s younger days, the adventures he had as a young man and the kind of father he was.\u00a0 My friend\u2019s love shines out for his father.\u00a0 Thanks to my friend\u2019s dedication, even the staff treats my friend\u2019s father with a little extra respect.\u00a0 They don\u2019t know him.\u00a0 They don\u2019t have any reason to consider him in any different light than any of the other patients in the nursing home.\u00a0 So why do they take a little extra time with him and speak to him more gently?\u00a0 Because he is loved.<\/p>\n
A baby can\u2019t do anything for herself.\u00a0 She can\u2019t bathe or feed or dress herself.\u00a0 She can\u2019t help pay the bills or clean the house.\u00a0 Despite all this, strangers see her and say how beautiful and precious she is.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because she is loved.<\/p>\n
Our dignity and value as persons is not found in what we have or what we can do.\u00a0 It is anchored in God\u2019s undying, perpetual love for us.\u00a0 As the quote at the top of this article asserts, each person is sacred and worthy of awe because of God\u2019s miraculous love for us.\u00a0\u00a0 Even if the love of others fails, God\u2019s love never fails (1 Chron 16:34).\u00a0\u00a0 God loves you so much that not only has he made you in his image, but he was born, lived, suffered, died and rose again so that you might know how much you are worth to him.\u00a0 And if that wasn\u2019t enough, he loves you so much that he wants to transform you into someone who is perfect and immortal and can be intimately united to God\u2013so that you can spend all of eternity being loved by him. <\/p>\n
Envy: \u00a0The Twisting of our Dignity \u00a0 <\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nWhen we forget that God\u2019s love for us is the root of our sense of worth and dignity, \u00a0envy takes hold. \u00a0Envy represents the twisting of our Divine Longing for Dignity. \u00a0 It tells us that our dignity is not rooted in God\u2019s love for us, but rather in having, doing, and being everything that the people around us have, do, and are. \u00a0Envy chains us to a treadmill that makes me run after everything that everyone else has so that I can feel \u201cas worthwhile as\u201d they are. \u00a0The problems is, no matter what I acquire or achieve, either someone will always be further up the ladder or I will always run the risk of losing what I\u2019ve accomplished and, by extension, what sense of dignity those accomplishments have afforded me. \u00a0The more I give into envying someone else\u2019s life, marriage, family, money, position, or anything else, the more I have separated myself from the experience of God\u2019s love, which is the only true foundation on which my dignity can rest.<\/p>\n
So when I am tempted to give into envy, how can I recover?<\/p>\n
3 Steps to Beating Envy and Reclaiming my Dignity in Christ.<\/strong><\/p>\n1. \u00a0Recenter the Battle. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/em>When we give into envy we tend to beat up on ourselves. \u201cLook at how pathetic I am? \u00a0What\u2019s wrong with me? \u00a0Why can\u2019t I just be grateful for what I have?\u201d \u00a0None of this works. \u00a0The only way to beat envy is to identify the threat to my divine longing for dignity. \u00a0Ask yourself, \u201cWhy do I feel my dignity is threatened?\u201d \u00a0\u201cWhat is making me feel unworthy of God\u2019s love?\u201d<\/p>\nFor instance, \u201cI feel that God doesn\u2019t love me because I am not successful like so-and-so.\u201d \u00a0Or \u201cI feel that God does not love me because I don\u2019t have the family that so-and-so does.\u201d \u00a0 If we can identify the perceived threat to our dignity, we can identify the idol that is separating us from God\u2019s love. <\/p>\n
2. \u00a0Sacrifice Your Idol. \u00a0<\/em>Once we\u2019ve identified the idol that is separating us from God\u2019s love, we have to sacrifice it. \u00a0Sacrificing the idol does not<\/em><\/strong> mean giving up our desire for greater security, or another child, or a more intimate marriage, or whatever it is we are envious of others about. \u00a0Those are all fine things to want, but they cannot be more important to us than God\u2019s love. \u00a0When we value these things more than we value our intimacy with God, we set ourselves up for feeling that our dignity is dependent upon achieving or keeping those things. \u00a0Pray, \u201cLord, this desire of my heart is important to me and I ask that if it is your will that you grant me my heart\u2019s desire. But Lord, I\u2019m sorry that I have come to love it more than I love you or desire your love for me. \u00a0Help me to want your love first and most and help me to always remember that whatever I may or may not have or do, my dignity and worth both rest in you.\u201d<\/p>\n3. Practice Kindness. \u00a0<\/em>If our dignity rests in experiencing God\u2019s love, we reclaim our experience of God\u2019s love by sharing that love with others. We are taught that we \u201cfind ourselves by making a gift of ourselves\u201d (Gaudium et Spes). \u00a0Kindness enables us to make a small gift of ourselves by looking for ways to make other people\u2019s lives easier or more pleasant. \u00a0Kindness is the superpower that enables us to put a smile on someone\u2019s face just by walking into the room. \u00a0Kindness looks for little ways to communicate God\u2019s love to others and. in turn, when they look at us, we see our dignity and worth reflected in their eyes.<\/p>\nPope Francis has this superpower.\u00a0 He does the simplest things and the entire world perks up.\u00a0 When we can make people smile just because we have walked into the room, it is impossible to doubt our dignity, worth and significance.\u00a0 Have you ever made a child smile?\u00a0 Did you ever just walk into a room and have your child or your spouse or your best friend just light up\u2013simply because you were there?\u00a0 Do you ever feel better about yourself than in that moment?\u00a0 I can\u2019t think of a better illustration of how kindness is the most authentic means of fulfilling our innate longing to know that we are worth something to someone.
\nThe Divine Longing for Dignity, A Promise:<\/em><\/p>\nGod wants you to know how much you are worth, not because of what you have or have accomplished, but simply because he loves you.\u00a0 On those days when you feel like you are not enough, or that you will never be enough, know that none of that matters.\u00a0 Resist the envy you feel with all your heart and call out to God. Ask him to help you see yourself through his eyes. Breathe in his love.\u00a0 Rest in that love.\u00a0 Then celebrate the fact that you are loved more than all the stars in the universe, than all the birds of the air and the flowers of the field by sharing that love through a small act of kindness performed for someone who needs a similar reminder of their true worth.\u00a0 Be the person who inspires others to flourish just by being in your presence.<\/p>\n
For more on how you can learn to love the parts of yourself you like the least, check out\u00a0Broken Gods: \u00a0Hope, Healing, and the Seven Longings of the Human Heart<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0 The following is adapted from my newest book, Broken Gods: \u00a0Hope, Healing, and the Seven Longings of the Human Heart \u201cHuman personhood must be respected with a reverence that is religious. When we deal with each other, we should do so with the sense of awe that arises in the\u00a0 presence of something holy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1437,"featured_media":3121,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[452,97],"tags":[447],"class_list":["post-3120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mental-health-2","category-self-help","tag-broken-gods"],"yoast_head":"\n
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