Values Clarification

How do we determine personal value?

In my previous post, The Makers Mark. I talked about the values we place on ourselves, and how God determines those values.


Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net 


What I want to ask today is.

What is the criteria we use to determine the value a person has in our life?

What is a person worth to us?

Does that value change?

We all have a wide variety of people in our lives. Family, friends, work, school etc. and we value them all differently.

Then there is that horribly shallow world of the virtual friend, the online friend.

This is the person we want to "like" us. We strive to attract followers to our various social media platforms so that we can feel good about ourselves. We like them purely so they can "like" us. If we post something they don't like or get offended about, we quickly become "unliked", and vice versa.

The fashion industry puts all of its value onto a person purely because of the way they look. Once they no longer have "the look" they are no longer valuable.

All of our relationships; family friends, school, work and social groups.

All of them are subject to shifting values. Family can be split apart, friendships can end, school finishes and jobs change. That person at the shop counter may seem genuinely lovely, but will that still be true when you no longer want to buy something?

I think the most important thing of all though. Is that in becoming aware of how we value people. We must understand how that affects our behaviour towards them. Why do girls go all gooey and wobbly kneed over a teen pop idol? Yes I know, its those raging pubescent hormones, but there is also that projection of a value that has been placed on that person. Sadly girls, Justin Bieber can only marry one of you, and it probably won't be you.

If I value someone purely because of what they can bring into my life, then I am treating them as  a commodity.

But if I recognise the unique value of the individual, then I will treat them differently.

I recently saw this clip of Jefferson Bethke on qideas.org. He's talking on the subject of The Objectification of Women. (You can ignore the sign up prompt and just run the clip) I think what he is saying is applicable to all of us, he challenges how we view and value those around us. It runs for 20 minutes and he talks quite fast, but this is well worth listening to. Plus, he explains all of this much better than I can.