Yardsticks and True Worth.

Recently, I walked into my bank to update their records for a line of credit and was told we needed to determine my net worth. By listing my assets on one side of the paper, and liabilities on the other, my net worth was determined.

Yesterday, I agreed to sell my house for a lot less than it was worth, or, as my realtor would correct me, it wasn’t worth what I thought it was. Either way, the loss I experienced (like so many other people these days) made me question my worth in another way.

I am beginning to feel like I make the bad steward, who buried his money so nothing would happen to it, look like a financial genius!(MT 25:14-28). Because I am a product of a society that places great value on money and net worth, the voices in my head saying what a failure I am are easy to hear and accept. But I am trying to listen to new voices.

In biblical times, people used reeds as a form of measurement, much like a yardstick today. The reeds (also called “canons”) provided an agreed-upon tool to measure things around them. The Church later used the term when compiling the “canon of scripture,” the standard which they then used to measure the world and people in it, much like a yardstick.

I completely understand the need to make sense, or measure, things. I appreciate the security of having measuring devices, but I can also see how damaging it can be when we use the wrong measuring devices, or use good devices in the wrong way.

The bank uses an established tool of financial measurement to establish one’s net worth, but it cannot measure our true worth. Our worth is found beyond or beneath assets and liabilities.

The church has yardsticks of its own which it uses to measure people like you and me, but who we are in the sight of God lies beyond its yardsticks as well. (When I think of those of us who have fallen, and those who do not measure up to the Church’s standards through no fault of their own, I cringe knowing how such theological yardsticks are used to beat guilt and shame into our souls.)

There are countless other “yardsticks” out there, some obvious, others not:

One is rich or poor . . . an American or not . . . a Republican or Democrat . . . gay or straight . . . saved or damned . . . employed or not . . .  The list is endless. Fortunately, through my time with some very wise people here at the GSC, I am finding other “yardsticks” and learning to measure things in a new way.

The cynic says: “ All of this is just a form of justification, a way to run to another tool when we don’t measure up to the first one.”

I believe God says: “I have one yardstick and it’s called ‘grace,’ and with it I see you as my beloved child. It’s about time you understand it.”