God Alone Is Worthy

A book I read recently related a concept I have heard many times before:  "Your worth is so great that if you had been the only person created upon the earth, God still would have sent His Son to die for you.  You count that much to Him."  The authors went on to say, "In your relationship with the Son of God, you are assured of worthiness." (Wright, H. Norman, and Wes Roberts. Before You Say "I Do". Harvest House Publishers, 2019. page 43.)  I cannot discern the intent of the authors, but to go from saying we have worth (value) to God to saying we have worthiness is a common error which undermines our need for God's grace.

To claim one has "worth" is different from claiming "worthiness."  Worth designates the value of something, while "worthy" means "deserving; such as merits; having worth or excellence."  A fine line we must not cross is the suggestion because God values us we are in the slightest worthy of being deemed righteous ourselves.  I have heard people espouse the worthiness of others to bolster their self-esteem, yet it is God we ought to esteem and magnify His grace toward us.  Because of our sin we are fit for damnation in the flames of hell and God still values us--not because of our worthiness but out of His goodness, grace, mercy and love.  It is being loved, pursued and accepted by God's grace that moves us to esteem Him and others as we ought.  Self-esteem is a foundation of eroding sand which only pride can hold fast.  Righteous standing with God is received by faith in God alone.

Man has been created in the image of God and because of sin we are irreparably cut off from God and doomed to destruction.  We are unworthy of forgiveness, acceptance or notice because of our rebellion, pride and self-righteousness.  We are helpless; we are hopeless.  God out of His grace and compassion took action to redeem and reconcile us to Himself.  It says in Romans 5:6-8, "For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  Paul did not say this to pump up the self-esteem of the Romans, but so they would instead esteem God as worthy of all honour, glory and praise.

I have heard people push back against the implications man is worthy by explaining when God looks at us as born again believers, He sees Jesus and therefore we are accepted.  This deflects the fact God loves us individually and personally with full knowledge of our unworthiness.  For God so loved the world He sent His only begotten Son, and this shows there is no divine nepotism at play from which we benefit.  How often has humanity, well-meaning though we are, resisted and opposed the gracious love and acceptance of God freely offered to all!  We easily fall into the trap of ascribing a degree of worthiness to ourselves, work to obtain favour by God only received by faith, or claim we could not possibly be loved because of the unrighteous wretches we truly are.  We are wretched sinners AND loved; we are unworthy yet God values us so much He sent His only Son to die in our place so we might be saved.  Let us extol God who alone is worthy and rejoice in Him who has lavished such mercy, grace and goodness upon us.