For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

God loves you so much because of how good He is, not because of how good you are. He sees the value in you that you are unable to see in yourself—it’s who He is and what He is about. However, we allow our worthiness to dictate the value we put on our own lives. We need to see our lives in light of who God is. God is the kind of God who would give His son for you and for me. The kind of God who says “your worth is not found in who you are or what you have done, but in my Son who was given on the cross for you.”

If we are to honor others and honor ourselves, we must understand the heart of biblical honor: to see the same value that God sees. We don’t appropriately honor ourselves very much, but God thinks and says we are worthy because He gave His son for us. If God loves us unconditionally even though we’re so messed up, who are we to determine who is worthy or not if God loves us as flawed as we are? It is in the very nature of God to love us and see value in us. Therefore, if we are to appropriately honor ourselves and others, we must first rest in the truth of God’s nature and character. 

Make it a point to remind yourself today: “because God sees value in me, I can see value in and show honor to myself and to others.”