Occasionally, after writing a post on WordPress, I find myself on a roll, so I write another one. But I don’t like posting two posts on the same day, so whenever that happens, I just save it as a draft. Sometimes I forget these drafts. I just discovered one such draft that I wrote a few months ago. Much of these thoughts spawned from reading Tim Keller and possibly Donald Miller. Here you are.

All humans want worth. I have yet to meet somebody who does not enjoy being valued. They want worth because worth for some reason brings happiness, and, as Pascal says, “All men seek happiness. This is the chief motive of every action of every man–even of those who hang themselves.”

In turn, all humans strive to gain worth. Person A tries to get good grades. Person B tries to improve his country. Person C tries to buy fashionable clothes. Person D tries to get a girlfriend. Person E tries to join a sorority. Person F tries to have a good job. All of these actions have ties with this desire to have worth.

And actions have consequences. I love examples. Let’s go through examples.

When Person A makes it his biggest priority to obtain good grades, he measures his worth by his grades, and his grades determine his worth. If he has good grades, he feels more worthy and therefore becomes happier. If he has bad grades, he feels less worthy and therefore becomes sadder. Not only that, but there will be a mentality change towards others. If he feels more worthy because he has good grades, it is only inevitable to think of those with bad grades as less worthy. This, I believe, is the main reason why people “look down” on others. They find themselves to be of more value, and in comparison, some people are of less value.

When Person B makes it his biggest priority to improve one’s country, he measures his worth by the well-being of the country, and the well-being of the country determine his worth. This is “I’m proud to be an American” to an extreme. If America comes home victorious in a war, one feels more worthy and therefore becomes happier. If America goes through a huge economic failure, one feels less worthy and therefore becomes sadder. Not only that, but when America is doing well, it becomes inevitable to think of non-Americans as people of less value. This is partly the reason why imperialism happened. This is partly the reason why nationalism or even racism exists.

And you can go down the line. A girl who finds worth in what she wears will look down on those who do not wear good clothes. A guy who finds worth in having a girlfriend will look down on those who do not have girlfriends. A girl who finds worth in being in a sorority will look down on those who are not in sororities. A guy who finds worth in having a job will look down on those who do not have jobs. It is essentially inevitable to slip into this thinking.

How can one then prevent oneself from looking down on others?

Measure your worth by the grace of God through Jesus Christ. A man who finds worth in the grace of God cannot look down on anybody else, because every human being is created in the image of God, and every human being failed God, and every human being is loved by God. We all have those in common. There is no in-group and out-group. There is just God and mankind. Add onto that the doctrine that we are saved by grace, that our works are by grace, and one will discover that looking down on others is not a practical thing to do anymore.

And another thing about measuring your worth by God. God never changes. He is always good. There is no such thing as a “bad grade” or an “economic failure.” And with the righteousness of Jesus spread over us, one will always be worthy.

– Larry