What makes one man worth knowing more than another? Is one worth knowing more than another because he is higher in the local social stratosphere and us knowing him would make us cool?  Is he worth knowing more than another because he has money or other material things he could give us?

Today while going about my business I came upon a group of people who are in possession of several elements that in the past I would have immediately coveted and said “I wish I could know them and be in their group, have it known that I know them.” I say in the past because when I saw them today I didn’t think these thoughts. Why? Why didn’t my mind, emotions and heart go the way I’ve always known them to go?

As I sat a few minutes later pondering this change I realized what was going on: my standards of what makes a man “worth knowing” had measurably changed, for real. Now before you say ‘Wow Danielle, aren’t you perfect” let me say ‘No, I am not perfect…by far!” I desire to be known just as much as the next guy because it’s a God given desire, He wants us to know Him and us to be known by Him. But, since we are fallen human beings we direct that desire to know and be known in all the wrong directions. If you are an American you only need to look at the magazine covers at the supermarket to see that we are a celebrity obsessed culture. We want to know all about others and in so doing think that we know them.

So what makes a person really “worth knowing”? It’s not the measure of their wallet, wardrobe or following on twitter, the true worth lies in the measure of their heart. Over the past few months I have been endeavoring to focus on seeing people from the inside, trying not to allow their outside appearances or popularity be the bases for establishing or deepening a relationship. It’s been wonderful and difficult but in doing so my desire has actually changed.

I’m not saying I will never again wish I could know certain people just because they are cool and everyone else knows them, that can still trip me up if I let it. But when that does happen I can re direct it to desire to be known by God and hopefully enlarge my heart instead of focusing on enlarging my popularity.

True worth lies in the most unsuspecting people if you take time to seek it out. Kindness, compassion, righteousness and a heart set on following the Lord make one worth knowing. I can without a doubt say that if worth was based solely on the standards above, than the majority of times I am not a person worth knowing. But I humbly desire to be worth knowing for all the right reasons. I want to be known as one who is forgetting that which will fade away and storing up internal treasure that will last forever, worth more than all the money in the world. I want to desire to know people because I know God.

 

*Note* My goal in this post was to make a point about worth as defined by the world/culture. I want to make clear that every human life on this planet is worth much to the Lord regardless of its state.

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