2008 Note: I wrote this in 2002, probably one of the first Christian articles I had ever written.  It came to me when I was reading a friend’s Dietrich Bonhoeffer message-a-day book so I hope that I haven’t passed off any of his work as my own below!  Not sure I would go along with my 2002 definition of absolute/relative truth.

Losers, nothings, zeroes, nulls, idiots, worthless, unlovable, undesirable, unwantable, failure and anything else you may have called yourself - this is about you, written by someone who thought as you do. There’s a very real difference between feeling down for a period and living a life of low self-esteem: one is circumstantial, the other a ‘natural’ state. One is a holiday into negativity and introspection, (though usage of the word ‘holiday’ is probably not apt), the other a reality from which you may escape only occasionally. The primary intended recipients of this article are from the latter category: people who consistently have low self-esteem.

When I was a teenager I heard a preacher, and many other people at the time, say “Before God we are nothing”. An easy teaching to accept, and probably an even easier teaching to give, it describes a comparison of value between the created and the creator. I imagine it rolled off the tongue with little thought beyond the assumption of creator being greater than creation, and yet I took this to be truth. That comparison became one of many foundations in my life - all teaching I heard was subject to the foundational truths that I believed: any teaching that contradicted would, naturally, be discarded. I had originally believed that we had value, finite value, and that God had infinite value. Now I had to believe that we were nothing and at the time it did not contradict the truths I believed: The difference between finite and infinite is the same as the difference between zero and infinite: an infinite difference. So I accepted this teaching as truth - it solidified the natural low self-esteem, giving justification and a Christian backing for its existence. In front of God we are not nothing. The teaching I accepted was a lie: the truth was false. I say that now to avoid confusion and to make my intent clear.

With all this talk of truth we should establish a definition. There are two types of truth: absolute truth and relative truth. If I have ten pounds in my hand, the absolute truth is that I have ten pounds in my hand. The relative truth is that I have a small amount of money in my hand. Why? The way I have been nurtured by my environment, mixed with my natural character makeup brings me to believe that ten pounds is a small amount of money. It’s subjective - to other people, a child for instance, ten pounds is quite a lot of money. Relative truth is truth that is local to you. Some people may agree, others will not.

So why is truth relative? Actually, truth is not relative, rather, truth is relative when you do not know all the variables involved. If we knew (and understood) everything, then, assuming we didn’t lie, we could speak from a position of authority and accuracy: Truth is only relative if you do not know and understand everything. Humans do not know and understand everything. We never will. There’s an infinite or ridiculous amount of data to know and understand in this existence - a single human will never capture that much data. When talking about the 10 pounds in my pocket, there is not that much data to know and understand - a simple concept, a simple truth. But when talking about opinions and value the amount of information to know and understand is quite a sum. God knows and understands everything. Therefore, if your truth is different to God’s truth it is because you either do not know and understand all the variables related to this truth, or you choose not to believe the absolute truth: If your relative truth differs from God’s absolute truth, you deceive yourself.

Your opinion of yourself is a relative truth. You couldn’t possibly know and understand all the variables involved in your value. Your relative truth also differs from God’s absolute truth in this case, you deceive yourself because God does think that you have value. Allow me to explain. How much value would Christ die on the cross for? How much would He have to value someone to be spent for them?

If I am nothing, Christ died for nothing.

…literally. We know that Christ did not die for nothing as God would not ask His own son to die for nothing - he would have to be seriously ill-informed to allow that to happen. In fact, as any parent knows, faced with a decision of sending their own child to the grave, you would generally spend time over the decision and try to know and understand all the data there is to be obtained. God, knowing and understanding everything, in a perfect place to make an informed decision, would not call His son to die for nothing. The absolute truth is that you have value, value that is equal to that of Christ’s life, death and ressurection. If you truly believe that you are nothing then your relative truth differs from God’s absolute truth and you deceive yourself.

Now that we have established that your value is greater than nothing the question arises “Just how much am I worth?”. For this, let us first establish how much God is worth. He created life, the universe and everything. The bible speaks continually of His worthiness - a supreme and almighty King - God has infinite value. This God, whose thoughts are absolute truth, considers you worth dying for in the cruelest way, worth being tortured for, worth spending 33 years on Earth being hated and rejected. Consider Him, and all the things he did for you. Now consider whether you would do this for someone you loved - how much would you have to love them, how much value would they have to have for you to do this for them? Now consider how much value you have for Almighty God to do this for you. You are something that God does not want to lose - He is prepared to do almost anything to keep you.

Whether you accept His sacrifice or not makes little difference to your value. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Christian or not - that is a decision you have made after Christ has died for you - while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

So just how much are you worth? No matter what you believe, the absolute truth is this: You are precious.

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