How do we measure our worth?

I was recently discussing the topic of self-worth with two teenagers in my community. Our conversation focused on two questions: What is the true nature of substance? How do we measure our worth? The answer to the first question provides a key to answering the second question.

If we deem our substance to be material, it’s fair to assume we’d measure worth by material wealth, physical characteristics, and so on. Yet if our true substance is spiritual, then we can evaluate ourselves – and others – through the gracious and enduring qualities we all express.

The Scriptures provide guidance and instruction on the nature of true substance. Referring to the wisdom of God, a biblical proverb states: “Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness. ... I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment: that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures” (Proverbs 8:18, 20, 21).

To understand and appreciate our true worth, we need to gain a deeper understanding of our spiritual nature as the offspring of God. The first chapter of Genesis reveals that man – meaning all men and women – is the image and likeness of God.

It’s in the discovery of our unchanging spiritual identity as the expression of Spirit that we find true worth and satisfaction. If our true substance is spiritual, then our identity is defined by spiritual qualities such as joy, unselfishness, and generosity.

Christ Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son, in the Gospel of Luke, directly addresses the question of self-worth (see 15:11-32). It’s an account of a young man who asks his father for his inheritance early and receives it. However, the son’s behavior was so profligate that the funds quickly evaporated, resulting in a crisis of low self-esteem.

Yet that wakes him up to return to his father for help. The encounter with his father represents a spiritual awakening. His father embraces him and tells his servants to provide him with a fine robe, a ring, and shoes, symbols of his restoration and unchangeable identity as a son and heir. The son accepts his father’s love and limitless goodness. And we can do the same.

Understanding God as our divine Father-Mother, we can all find our place within God’s secure and bountiful kingdom, and discover our true worth.

In the months following graduation from university I had only found part-time employment. This caused me to wrestle with my own self-worth. However, my study and practice of Christian Science gave me a spiritual perspective.

I understood that my worth did not depend on having full-time employment. My worth depended solely on my relationship to God. God knows us as His own spiritual ideas, complete and whole, lacking nothing. Employment and right activity come directly from God, Spirit.

I was able to maintain a sense of joy and became involved in activities that were meaningful to me and helpful to others, such as participation in church. Shortly afterwards, I received an offer of full-time employment and gratefully accepted that position.

In her major work, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science, states: “Take away wealth, fame, and social organizations, which weigh not one jot in the balance of God, and we get clearer views of Principle. Break up cliques, level wealth with honesty, let worth be judged according to wisdom, and we get better views of humanity” (p. 239).

An understanding of our tender and unbreakable relationship to God allows us to let our own worth, and that of others, “be judged according to wisdom.” Understanding our worth as the sons and daughters of God brings joy and freedom. It liberates us from a limited sense of being – mortal selfhood and ego – and enables us to comprehend our immutable identity as the expression of Spirit, God.

Our worth, then, does not depend on the views of others or even on the particular circumstances we may find ourselves in. It only depends on how Spirit is expressing itself in us. Each of us can discover the boundless nature of our Father’s love, which brings peace, contentment, and a satisfying understanding of our true substance and worth.