Value of Persons 3

"God, help me be a godly granddad!"

Speaking personally, I went through some significant depression after being fired and experiencing all doors closed to work. My functional value was negligible. It was time to build with an emphasis on intrinsic value. I can now look back on those first three years post work and appreciate the painful process. God used that time to rub off a lot of rough edges - pride, self-sufficiency, performance oriented idolatry and more.

The only glimmer of hope for a functional value was found in Psalms 92: “even in old age they will still produce fruit and be vital and green. ( I was 62 years old at the time). I was on the vocational shelf temporarily for heat and pressure! I questioned my worth and felt quite impotent. Psalm 66 and Malachi 3:3 describe my position well.
“you have tried us with fire, O Lord, like silver in a crucible…)” He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the Levites (including Burwick) and refine them (him) like gold and silver.

The refiner's fire can only accomplish its purposes when the heat is turned up to extraordinary temperatures. It breaks down the metal in order for it to become moldable and shapeable. Only when the temperatures reach this level can the work be fully accomplished. So it is in our lives.

When God takes us through the refiner's fire, be encouraged because it is His overriding commitment to turn us from a rough, hard-edged stone to a precious metal. He will do this through certain events in our workplace, our relationships, and other circumstances in life. We are not to try to blow out the fire!!

The “intrinsic value slogan” I endeavored to internalize was: “Nothing can come my way that God will not use for my benefit. For that reason, my objective is to learn to actively embrace my life, not passively resign or actively resist and to live with continuous joy and thanksgiving in the Lord even through the toughest circumstances or attack by satan. I have confident trust in the character of God. I wait with confident hope in Him.”

Moses’ example was a helpful reminder. It has been said that his first 40 years was spent thinking he was someone. Then 40 years of desert, sheep-herding, learning that he was no one. Finishing with 40 years finding out what God can do with somebody who thought he was a nobody.

So obviously as a Christian, I can’t evaluate myself with worldly evidence...performance, size of my bank account, type of car or prestige of work or living setting. Christian value of a person is measured first from within.Then the question is asked, “can that intrinsic value be lived out functionally in a well-balanced manner when there is no arena for it to be displayed? Is it necessary to be displayed?”

After a few heavy months, the black cloud lifted as I learned more deeply to depend on Him for everything. (Hard for a performance-oriented person to do.) This attitude wasn’t one of passive resignation nor was it a clinched fist. My attitude became one of embracing relinquishment. ‘You will use all this for my benefit. You’re building intrinsic value so that my functional value will be enhanced.”

More tomorrow