According to a National Geographic Magazine article entitled “Fly Like a Fly“,  by Joel Achenbach, (1) the common and often irritating housefly is a marvel of insect engineering.

Achenbach shared that evidently the fly is superior even to birds, bees, and bats when it comes to acrobatic capabilities. Did you know that a typical fly can fly straight up, hover, fly backwards, perform somersaults, and then land on the ceiling? Not only can they perform amazing feats of acrobatics, but scientists have further discovered that nearly two-thirds of a typical housefly’s entire nervous system is dedicated to the processing of visual imagery. This coupled with their large compound eyes, gives the housefly the capacity to perceive full panoramic imagery and makes them especially adept at detecting motion. (Probably why many a fly has escaped my efforts with the flyswatter.)  When God designed the fly, a lot of attention to detail went into His effort.

Knowing this, can you imagine for a moment how much more God loves us, his crowning achievement, given the amazing design effort he put forth for the fly?

How do we evaluate our worth? I admit that there are days where I feel like I don’t even measure up to the humble housefly.

Thankfully our worth is actually known. Dr. Ken Boa noted that scriptures tell us that our worth is “determined by what Christ was willing to do for us” (2) rather than what we can do for Christ. In today’s cultural climate, our sense of worth is often distorted because our culture frequently links self-worth to our life’s accomplishments, finances, our popularity, political views, talents etc.

There are times along life’s journey where I feel very much like I have not done all that I could have done. I look at so many of my friends, family, co-workers, and others that have done such great things in their lives. Yet by comparison, my few contributions don’t seem to have even nudged the needle in life.

At one point in my life, I reflected upon all of this and realized that I have no great stories to tell, I’m not a hero, I’m not particularly intelligent, nor do I poses any special gifts in music or other talents. I’m just an average everyday kind of person slugging through life. It was rather humbling and even discouraging to consider.

In the midst of this disheartening self-evaluation of my life, God reminded me of how much I am cherished. The scriptures say that “…we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”(3) We are loved by God, a God that is rich in his mercies and loves us so much that he has given us eternal life through the work of his son Jesus.

There may be times when I “feel” like I don’t measure up to my ideas about my life, and when that happens, I’ve found that I need to recall that God does not ask me to base my relationship and eternal worth on my feelings, rather he asks me to trust Him and respond to him in faith. Because of his grace we are elevated, adopted into God’s family and have a seat at the table of the King.  (Romans 8:15) All of this is possible because of the work of Christ on the cross and not by anything I could possibly have done on my own. (Ephesians 2:9)

A dear pastor friend of mine once shared a sermon that included the passage from Ephesians 2:7, which speaks of God’s desire to pour out his continued blessings in our lives.(4) In his sermon, he spoke of how God’s kindness and love towards us is so great and so vast that the gifts he desires to give us will take “ages” for God to fullfill.(5)

Not only does God pour out His blessings upon us, but with these blessings he gives us purpose in our lives. Our purposes are unique to who we are and to what it is that God desires for us to do in his kingdom.

The Apostle Paul reminded me that some have greater more visible roles than others, yet all are needed in God’s kingdom. (Romans 12:5) What I have learned is that my worth isn’t in what I do, it’s in how I respond in faith to the assignment God desires for me to do. God doesn’t ask me to pre-approve his assignment for me, he simply hands me my assignment. It’s up to me to decide if I accept the assignment in faith, trusting that God has a greater and grander purpose in why he chose that particular assignment for me.

Each of us has an important part to play in God’s Kingdom. We are each given  a variety assignments over the course of our earthly lifetimes, each designed to uniquely contribute to God’s purposes. We may never know on this side of heaven the exact purpose of our assignment, but to reject such an assignment is to reject the blessings that God will give us for our faithfulness.

One assignment that never changes is the assignment to understand and place first in our lives our relationship with Christ. We need to know Christ, we need to know his heart, we need to accept his love and forgiveness in our lives. We need to spend time in his word, in prayer, and in so doing magnify his love in our lives while learning to recognize and hear his voice. (1 Kings 19:12, John 10:3)

The trouble I sometimes face is that I have in mind what I would like my assignments to look like. Our views to this end are often influenced by our emotions and the need for recognition we feel like we deserve. The truth is we don’t deserve anything but separation from God, yet he still pursued us with his everlasting love. (Romans 5:8, John 3:16-17)

To be clear, not everyone will receive an assignment that puts them in the limelight or gives them a sense of continued worth and value from those around us. In fact, most assignments in this life will be humble but critical ones. If we seek to be like Jesus we should be aware of the virtues God values, and God values humility over pride. (Proverbs 8:13, Matthew 18:4)

When our focus shifts away from serving our Lord, when we allow pride to enter into to the equation,we will start to feel like what we are doing is not important, or fails to give me the recognition I feel I deserve, it’s then that our joy will be gone, our hearts will be barren, and what we do will become hollow. In this state we become distant from our Lord and that distance hinders our ability to hear God, which in turn hurts the body of Christ.

In the scriptures, the apostle Paul illustrated the critical nature of our assignments by comparing our assignments to that of the human body. No part of the human body is useless, all parts, no matter how humble or visible, serve critical roles to ensure the health of the body. (1 Corinthians 12:12-31)

Likewise we see this illustration extended when we speak of all believers throughout the world as the body of Christ. We each have roles or assignments that God has given to us. God is not frivolous nor operates without purpose, each assignment given is critical.

Perhaps some get the assignment to be the beautiful voice that will sing songs of worship or preach, perhaps others will serve quietly and faithfully functioning day after day behind the scenes of life, thus enabling the voice of the body to do its role for the whole of the body. Like the human body, the reality is that most of what goes on in the body of Christ is more invisible than visible, but no less critical.

When we speak of the body of Christ and our roles, we speak of our function within God’s kingdom as a whole. His kingdom is here and now, it’s where we worship, live, and work. Don’t ever be discouraged by your assignment, but rather carry out your assignment faithfully. Doing so will have the effect of building up the body of Christ.

Perhaps your assignment is to be a faithful parent to your children, to do the chores in the home God has given you, to care for an elderly parent, to be the heart of Jesus to people in your workplace or school, to deal with the harsh aspects of a fallen humanity in some form of public service. Perhaps it’s to empty out the trash at church, to wash the floors, or to mow the lawns.

Remember, it’s not about achieving recognition in the eyes of others, nor is it doing something to make me feel good inside. It’s about being faithful in the assignment God has given us, even when we don’t get encouraging feedback from the people around us.

Our true worth can be measured by the faith we extend to God as we live out our assignments faithfully. Recognize that no other creature in God’s creation have been given the privilege nor the capacity to express the love of Christ to the world at large except us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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(1)Craig Brian Larson and Phyllis Ten Elshof, 1001 Illustrations That Connect (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2008), 51–52.

(2) Kenneth Boa, Handbook to Spiritual Growth: Twelve Facets of the Spiritual Life (Atlanta, GA: Trinity House Publishers, Inc., 2008), 140.

(3) The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Eph 2:10.

(4) The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Eph 2:7.

(5) “God’s plans to showers us with kindness,” Tom Marcum Sermon Notes (November 8, 2015)