In one word...

I love dinners with my friends back home in Virginia. I love sitting around the table and enjoying a bottle of wine and plates of amazing food. Whenever I’m in town we all catch up for one night at my favorite restaurant and it has become a tradition I look forward to no matter what it is that’s bringing me home. A few weeks ago while we were dining, conversation turned to the guys I had dated in the past. If you ask my friends to sum up every guy I’ve dated in one word they all agree on “worthless”. Ouch. What does this say about my character if the men I’ve chosen to spend my time and energy on are all considered worthless to my friends? It’s not the first time I had heard that… it started in high school, but it’s astounding to me that years down the road I have many new friends that still have that same word in common when describing guys I’ve been interested in… worthless.

This past Sunday I was at Crossover and Pastor Tommy was speaking about Paul’s letters from jail. In Philippians 3:7-8 he tells everyone in Philippi “These things that I once considered valuable, I now consider worthless for Christ. It’s far more than that! I consider everything else worthless because I’m much better off knowing Christ Jesus my Lord! It’s because of him that I think of everything as worthless. I threw it all away in order to gain Christ.”

There it was again! Worthless! But in hearing this it occurred to me that I can’t be so hard on myself. Everything I ever strived for that wasn’t Christ-centered was, in fact, worthless! The money, the fame, the guys… worthless! So I really dove into the Bible and wanted to find out more about what was worthless so I could just avoid it from now on or even just how to pray for wisdom of what is worthless in my father’s eyes. This is what I found:

Turn my eyes away from worthless things. Give me a new life in your ways. –Psalm 119:37

The tongue of a righteous person is pure silver. The hearts of wicked people are worthless. –Proverbs 10:20

A worthless person plots trouble, and his speech is like a burning fire. –Proverbs 16:27  

As if all of this wasn’t enough, I found Job 15:31 – “He shouldn’t trust in worthless things and deceive himself because he will get worthless things in return.” – and it hit me like a brick! All these years I put all my effort into getting things or people that I thought would complete me or make me greater. Christ is the only one who can do that. With every little gift he has given me lately it just adds onto my recognition that everything else is so worthless. My friend, Megan, will be the first to tell you I’m still learning… but it’s all so worth it in the end.

Stop going after worthless worldly things. Just because everyone is saying it’s better for you to have something or be with someone doesn’t mean that’s true. Find the truth in the words written in red. Every job I ever took because it would make me lots of money: Worthless. Every outfit I ever bought to turn somebody’s head: Worthless. Every ambition I ever had that was solely focused on pride and vengeance: Worthless. Every guy I ever dated without seriously considering God’s will for me: Worthless. Knowing that I’m being obedient, walking with my father on a daily basis, and patiently waiting while I rest in faith that all things will work for his glory: Priceless.