Appreciating Your Own Value (Part 1)

2 Corinthians 4:1-9
As Christians, we should not be waiting on somebody else to appreciate us, and place value upon us. We need to value ourselves, understanding in our own sight and in our own minds that because of who we are, and because of what God has done through His son Jesus Christ, we are valuable. We need to come to understand that we have high value and are a treasure in the Kingdom of God, and have a treaure within us. When the Scriptures talk about "earthen vessels", the Bible is talking about us! We were made from the earth, and the treasure of God, is within us!

1) Paul says," Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have recieved mercy, we faint not."
What ministry is he talking about? He's talking about the ministry of the new testament, the new covenant. In the preceding chapter, Paul discussed how even though the light of Moses was great, the light of the Gospel is greater. If you recall from the old testament, the children of Israel could not even look upon the face of Moses, for the glory of God was so bright upon his face. But that light, Paul says, pales in comparison to the glory of God in Jesus Christ. Moses had to hide his face from the people so that the glory he possesed would not blind the people. But the glory that Moses possesed is considered dim when compared to the glory that we carry in Jesus Christ. That's why we need to get rid of low self-esteem and poor self images, for we carry a glory because of Christ who is in us, and whom the Bible says is "the hope of glory".

The Bible says that "the letter killeth but the spirit makes alive." We have the ministry of the new covenant, a ministry of grace and mercy, which allows us to "faint not". That is the reason we can keep going day to day. Not because we've been so great or "good little Christians", but because each morning we are met with God's mercy, which is new every day. We can keep going another day because we have recieved mercy! Each day, all things are made new, which means even if yesterday was absolutely horrible, today is a new day! Think back to when you were in school. Did you ever mess up a problem or a sentence on a piece of paper and erase it so much it left holes in the paper? Did your teacher give you a new, fresh sheet of paper to start over on? That's what God does for us! Every day we start off with a new sheet of paper, the mistakes and mishaps of yesterday don't count! Stop for a moment and rejoice; thanking God for a fresh touch, a fresh annointing, a fresh perspective, a clean slate.

2) So, what is this treasure that we have in us? It is "the light of the glorious gospel of Christ." This simply means it is the revelation of who we are in Jesus. "Light" is revelation and is again the reason "we faint not". Because we know who we are, we can have the strength to keep going after we hear disappointing news, after we've had a bad day and things did not go as we planned, it is what helps us to get up the next day and keep moving foward.
Jesus told a parable that taught us that "men should pray always and not faint." There's something about knowing who we are in God that keeps us from fainting. It was David who said in Psalms 46 "God is our refuge and strength.....therefore will not we fear, thought the earth be removed, and though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea....the Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge." That means our world can fall apart and we can still rise erect in the morning, and still be the men and women God has called us to be. Everthing in our lives could be going crazy, yet because we know who our God is, we can still praise and thank Him in the midst of the chaos.

3) Because we know who we are in Christ, this gives us the ability to renounce "the hidden things". (see Psalms 19 which talks about presumptous sins and hidden faults) To renounce means to reject, give it up, to relinquish it, to forsake it, to abandon it, to hand it over, to disown it. The Bible says we can "renounce the hidden things of dishonesty." In order for Jacob to embrace Israel, he had to let go of being Jacob. He had to renounce everything that had to do with his former name. He had to stop answering to it. The angel of the Lord told him, "your name is no more Jacob." Because we have Jesus Christ within us, we are new creatures with new names, and therefore we must stop answering to the old labels our past places on us. Answering to the "names" of our pasts only causes us to act out those negative things we did before.
And because we renounce the hidden things, we are not "walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully..." We aren't using the word of God as a way to manipulate others or trying to deceive anyone.

4) The revleation of who we are in Christ is the truth the enemy doesn't want us to know. In verse 3 and 4 it says," But if our gospel is hid, it is hid to them that are lost....In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Have you ever tried to introduce someone to the Lord and they just didn't "get" it or just didn't understand what you were trying to say? It's because they are lost, and it's most likely not their time to receive salvation. Satan, being the god of this world, has blinded the minds of non-believers, and they are unable to see the truth, or their need for God, because they have set their minds on something other than God's will for their lives. They are also blind to the knowledge that they are in the image of God. The enemy doesn't want us to know that we were created in the image of God. Instead, he wants us to hold onto every "fleshly" aspect of who we are naturally, embracing all the negative things and sins passed down from our natural parents and grandparents. He wants us to focus only on the DNA of our ancestors and allow that to keep us from striving to be who God called us to be. But again, remember that the Bible says that "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17)

This means we have the DNA of our Heavenly Father, we have God's DNA in us! We don't have to try to look like God, we were already made in His image! God has a DNA that is holy and righteous, that is annointed, that is full of power, is full of strength and might, full of whatever it is that you need to make it in this life. Because God is creative, then we are creative, because our Father is victorious, so then are we! It was Daniel who said,"...but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits."(Daniel 11:32). The spirit of weakenss, or giving up isn't in God's DNA, and therefore is not in ours! Because God does great things, then it's in us to do great things! If God can create things out of nothing, then why shouldn't we be able to do the same?

We need to start carrying ourselves in the image of our Father. Start appreciating your value and the treasure God has placed in you today.