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Self-Worth
Climbing that Ladder
Is your significance tied too closely to achievements—building buildings, reaching business goals, acquiring material possessions, climbing career ladders? There’s nothing inherently wrong with these. But if you lost them, would your confidence completely crumble? If your sense of worth depends on them, what happens when you reach the top of the ladder, only to discover that the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall?
The problem is that our world has a system of values that is upside down from the way God determines value. It lacks any sense of what Scripture describes as “calling,” or what Christians later termed “vocation”—a perspective that God has called and equipped people to serve Him through their work in the world. Instead, our culture encourages us to climb a work/identity ladder that is ultimately self-serving, and often self-destructive.
Climbing that ladder can be very misleading. The higher one goes, the more one’s identity, value, and security tend to depend on the nature of one’s work. But what happens if we lose our position, titles, or high-level compensation? Perhaps this explains why severe emotional problems—drug and alcohol abuse, abuse of spouse and children, divorce, even suicide—often accompany job loss. If our significance relies on our job, then it dies with our job.
God calls us to a far more stable basis for significance. He wants us to establish our identity in the fact that we are His children, created by Him to carry out good works as responsible people in His kingdom (Eph. 2:10). This is our calling or vocation from God. According to Scripture, our calling:
- is irrevocable (Rom. 11:29).
- is from God; He wants to let us share in Christ’s glory (2 Thess. 2:14).
- is a function of how God has designed us (Eph. 2:10).
- is an assurance that God will give us everything we need to serve Him, including the strength to remain faithful to Him (1 Cor. 1:7-9).
- is what we should be proclaiming as our true identity (1 Pet. 2:5, 9).
- carries us through suffering (1 Pet. 2:19-21).
- is rooted in peace, no matter what the circumstances in which we find ourselves (1 Cor. 7:15-24).
- is focused on eternal achievements, not merely temporal ones (Phil. 3:13—4:1).
Above all else, believers are called to character development, service to others, and loyalty to God. These can be accomplished wherever we live or work, whatever our occupational status or position in society. If we pursue these, we can enjoy great satisfaction and significance. No matter what happens on the job, we can join Paul in saying, “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28).
The Word in Life Study Bible, New Testament Edition, (Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville; 1993), p. 180
Desire to Succeed and Prevail
David Letterman says the single most powerful motivating force in his life is a desire to succeed and prevail. He explains how he feels about doing “Late Show With David Letterman”:
Every night you’re trying to prove your self-worth. It’s like meeting your girlfriend’s family for the first time. You want to be the absolute best, wittiest, smartest, most charming, best-smelling version of yourself. If I can make people enjoy the experience and have a higher regard for me when I’m finished, it makes me feel like an entire person. If I’ve come short of that, I’m not happy. How things go for me every night is how I feel about myself for the next 24 hours. Because I’m not playing a character—I’m trying to give you the best version of myself.
Dotson Rader in Parade, quoted in Reader’s Digest, p. 113
Computers Try to Read Handwriting
Post Office is spending millions on program to read addresses
Associated Press:
Merrifield, Va.—Computers are being trained to do the impossible: Read sloppy handwriting.
Already in 34 cities, computer software is helping read handwritten addresses. But the system still has a long way to go.
The Remote Computer Reader likes numbers written in third-grade, block style. But the computer finds it easier to read cursive—as long as it’s not too showy. And no Old English, thank you.
The reader’s memory is somewhere inside a blue box of computer circuit boards in an out-of-the-way, gray room at the Postal Service’s Engineering and Development Center in suburban Virginia.
“Here it is,” program manager Al Lawson says, showing off the read-your-writing machine. “It’s not very exciting. It’s a box.”
About $6 million has already been spent to get the Remote Control Reader up and running in the 34 cities. By the end of the year, the software will be at all 254 of the post office’s main processing sites, sorting nearly one-quarter of the estimated 8 billion pieces of handwritten mail that move through the Postal Service every year, Lawson said.
Right now, it reads 10 percent to 14 percent. Although it correctly sorted four of 20 test letters penned by employees of The Associated Press—a 20 percent success rate.
It was confused by a sample letter addressed to “200 West Ave. E.” Another had too much space between the numbers in the 45140 ZIP code of Loveland, Ohio. The first two numbers in the 61937 ZIP to Lovington, Ill., were touching on a third, but the machine still got this one right.
In all, the machine couldn’t sort 16 of the 20 test letters. They would have had to be routed by one of the 22,000 workers nationwide who manually key in destinations.
Tom Fahey, communications director for the American Postal Workers Union, said the new technology could mean the loss of jobs in upcoming years. But he said the workers might be needed for other postal work by the time the system is perfected.
That’s Stanley Turk’s job.
The systems analyst plopped down in front of a color computer monitor and called up a fictional test letter addressed to: John Johnson on Saddle Notch Drive in Loveland, Colo., 80537.
Sloppy writing caused instant problems.
The first two digits of the ZIP code ran together. Also, the sender wrote an oversized, European-style No. 7—one with a horizontal slash through its vertical line.
“It read the seven as a two,” Turk said.
The machine also was stumped on a sample letter being sent to 1 Lakeshore Drive in Valentine, Neb., 69201. The machine thought a small, partial circle meant to be a zero was an extraneous mark on the envelope, maybe ink from a messy pen.
Turk says the machines are programmed to filter out other things, too, like postmarks, stamps, logos—even “Ed McMahon staring you in the face saying you’ve already won.”
In a half-second, the computer goes through an extensive checklist, gaining confidence at each step about sending a letter to a certain destination.
First, it searches for the address. Then it breaks it into units of information like the post office box number or ZIP code.
“It took more than five years of research just to get the computer to find the address block,” Turk says. “It’s still not perfect.”
Next, the computer looks for a five-digit ZIP, comparing each number with ones etched in its memory. If it can decode the ZIP, it automatically knows the city and state.
Then instead of trying to identify the street name, it tries to decipher the street number. That’s easier.
If the street number is 10, for example, the computer searches its memory for all addresses within the ZIP that begin with that number—10 Main St., 10 Commerce Ave., 10 E. Greenway Blvd. This list includes all variations such as 10 East Greenway Boulevard.
The next step is a bit tricky.
The computer traces the handwritten street name, keeping track of how many times upstrokes become downstrokes; downstrokes become upstrokes. It approximates the number of characters. Then it tries to find a probable address match on the list.
“If it’s too close to call,” Turk says, “the computer says: ‘Let an operator key it.’”
Spokesman-Review, February 16, 1997, p. A4
Irving Berlin
Perhaps no composer has captured the musical heart and soul of America as did Irving Berlin. In addition to familiar favorites such as “God Bless America” and “Easter Parade,” he wrote, “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas,” which still ranks as the all-time best-selling musical score.
In an interview for the San Diego Union, Don Freemand asked Berlin, “Is there any question you’ve never been asked that you would like someone to ask you?”
“Well, yes, there is one,” he replied. “‘What do you think of the many songs you’ve written that didn’t become hits?’ My reply would be that I still think they are wonderful.”
God, too, has an unshakable delight in what—and whom—he has made. He thinks each of his children is wonderful, and whether they’re a “hit” in the eyes of others or not, he will always think they’re wonderful.
Jim Adams, Buenos Aires, Argentina, quoted in Leadership, Summer 1993, p. 60
Now I’m a Real Boy
The greatest obstacle to being handicapped—or challenged, or disabled or whatever label we may be using this year—is not the condition but the stigma society still associates with it. The truth is we are valuable because of who we are, not because of how we look or what we accomplish. And that applies to all of us, the disabled and the temporarily able-bodied alike. I’m convinced God didn’t turn His back at the moment of Jeff’s conception. He is still the God of miracles, but in this instance, the one who received healing was me. Our Lord is still in the business of changing lives, but not always in the ways we expect.
Several years ago, Jeff played in a special Little League for kids with disabilities. After many seasons of watching from the bleachers and rooting while his big brother played ball, Jeff’s opportunity finally arrived. When he received his uniform, he couldn’t wait to get home to put it on.
When he raced out from his bedroom, fully suited up, he announced to me, “Mom, now I’m a real boy!” Though his words pushed my heart to my throat, I assured him he had always been a “real boy.”
Carlene Mattson, Focus on the Family, April, 1993, p. 13
John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams held more important offices than anyone else in the history of the U.S. He served with distinction as president, senator, congressman, minister to major European powers, and participated in various capacities in the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and events leading to the Civil War. Yet, at age 70, with much of that behind him, he wrote, “My whole life has been a succession of disappointments. I can scarcely recollect a single instance of success in anything that I ever undertook.”
Unfinished Business, Charles Sell, Multnomah, 1989, p. 233
It Would Be Worth It
Charles Leber, a Presbyterian missionary, was in Westphalia, Germany at a clinic for handicapped children. A wealthy businessman came to tour the facilities and said to the doctor, “These are very pathetic children. What ratio of cures do you get? How many go back to normal life?” “About 1 in 100.” “1 in 100! It’s not worth it.” “Yes it is. If that one was your child it would be worth it.”
Bruce Larson, commentary on Luke, p. 78.
Resource
- Swindoll, The Quest for Character, Multnomah, pp. 177ff
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Quote
- People who matter are most aware that everyone else does, too. -
Malcolm S. Forbes, The sayings of Chairman Malcolm
Valuable Necklace
An American tourist in Paris, who purchased an inexpensive amber necklace in a trinket shop, was shocked when he had to pay quite a high duty on it to clear customs in New York. This aroused his curiosity, so he had it appraised. After looking at the object under a magnifying glass, the jeweler said, “I’ll give you $25,000 for it.” Greatly surprised, the man decided to have another expert examine it. When he did, he was offered $10,000 more. “What do you see that’s so valuable about this old necklace?” asked the astonished man. “Look through this glass,” replied the jeweler. There before his eyes was an inscription: “From Napoleon Bonaparte to Josephine.” The value of the necklace came from its identification with a famous person.
Source unknown
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