Love and Worth
“…views modern man as an ‘achievement-subject’ where personal identity and self-worth is not related to relationships, duties, spiritual beliefs and contemplation of the moral Good, but to pleasure, inclination and ‘profits of enjoyment from work.’…Modern man, being part of a society that exists primarily for the sake of economic output and wealth-creation, necessarily creates a psychological reward-structure around personal achievements, advancement in social or economic status, and respites from work such as idleness and rest are only permitted if they are deserved as consequences of work and achievement. This is obviously a complete break from how work was done and life viewed in traditional societies. It is not that they did not work in such societies, but that their relationship to it was different (it is often cited, and absolutely true, that ‘unfree’ mediaeval English peasants had more days off work than modern ‘free’ working citizens). The result of this society of the achievement-subject is that we lose all meaningful ‘relations to the Other’, and so we seek gratification in unhealthy ways. The achievement-self burdens itself, exploits itself and attaches itself to anything in order to survive in a world which does not value morality, ultimate purpose, or relationships that are not practical and expendable. Life becomes ‘that of the undead.’ Illness is inevitable. (Priest Alban Illingworth, Byung-Chul Han)
“Our lives are driven by false assumptions in which we become our own greatest disappointments, all the while wondering at the excellence of others. In truth, our lives lack true wonder. We do not attend to the things that are most directly at hand. That which is uniquely proper to each of us is not our marketable skill – it is our very existence! That we do not rightly see our own existence means that we fail to rightly see the existence of others. We become like a movie audience in which all of the real people sit in the dark, unaware of one another, with the digital images dancing on the screen as the center of our short-term world.” (Father Stephen Freedom)
“From a world held hostage by the idea that the quantifiably big, the numerically great, and the visibly expansive accurately describe our worth, we return to the magic of a world in a grain of sand, the universe compacted in a seed. From an anxious world full of desperate souls trying to impose their agendas and needs, identities, and desires upon every person in their path, we come home to a self whose freedom is a given thing guaranteed not by power but by Love.” (Sarah Clarkson)
“To fall in love with God is the greatest romance;…to find Him, the greatest human achievement…If every soul knew the Lord, and how deeply He loves us, no one would despair or murmur against his lot…Our world is so obsessed with the concept of equality. Yet equality is a fallacy—no two people, no two days, no two of anything are equal. God places infinite value on each person. Rather than obsessing over where we stand as compared to our neighbor, we should always be cognizant of where we stand in the sight of God. He loves us with an infinite love.” (St. Augustine, St. Silouan the Athonite, Fr. Stavros N. Akrotirianakis)
“Our true sense of worth is based on love not accomplishment, achievement, or anything the world offers. We exist because God loved us enough to create us. We are not here by accident. We take to heart this truth and know God’s love, or don’t, through the love of others or lack there off. This is why Christ said to love God and love others as He loves us. The greatest gift we can give someone is simply to love them as they are and for who they are.” (Sacramental Living Ministries)
“For here is what love actually means: receiving something of which, as you know in the depths of your soul, you are unworthy. Love is what you will never deserve to receive! You are so unworthy in comparison with the one who loves you so beautifully and abundantly, and you know that you do not deserve to be loved with such strong love as that with which he loves you. There have been many cases in our lives when each of us as felt conquered by the love we received. Perhaps we expected to be scolded, spat upon, but we received love instead. This is an extraordinary virtue. Why? Because such love possesses enlivening power. And love is always good and tender, and hides a delightful nobility. It never wounds.” (Bishop Ignatie Trif)
“Christ our God “overthrow[s] everything” (Job 11:10). We may know Him directly; He teaches us what we can and ought to say to the Father: “Glory to Thy might, O Lord, Who doest all things well.” Knowing our wicked transgressions, Christ did “not overlook” our sins (Job 11:11). Rather, He suffered on the Cross and forgave all who would receive Him. We can leave all vain buoying up to Zophar and others who believe that men are simply “equal to a donkey in the desert” (vs. 12). Our gracious Savior confirmed our worth when He took “the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men . . . became obedient to the point of death . . . Therefore God also has highly exalted Him” (Phil 2:7-9).” (Dynamis 8/8/2019)
“Salvation is something that has happened to the entire cosmos. But it is not merely some objective truth, an idea which we can learn about. It is something we participate in – and because we can experience it personally, we know of God’s love for us by experience. It is not something we only hear about, it is something we experience by allowing Christ to live in us. As the Prophet Job exclaims after his encounter with God: “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5-6). We encounter the God of love and in knowing God as love, we also experience total amazing grace as we realize our own sinfulness has made us unworthy of being in God’s presence, and yet God has made that possible through Christ.” (Fr. Ted Bobosh)
“We can experience a deep and profound incongruence when others try to love us, affirm us, and even look out for us. It is as though they are giving us a gift, but we cannot accept it, because we believe and feel that we are unworthy. This tends to indicate the presence of shame. It can also indicate the presence of fear…that if I allow others to get close, I will just end up being hurt all over again… When we are listening to the past, living in function of it, or trying to prove a belief wrong that was learned in the past, we can often overlook the source or presence of the healing experiences in the present, even those in our own homes. We might have been unknowingly rejecting their healing messages and affirmations. Whether it is because we doubt they could be true or it is out of fear, it is very tragic. We speak of the basic elements of love and safety. To be healthy, we all need love and a sense of safety…we need to allow ourselves to be loved and to feel safe. Everyone is lovable, including ourselves. So, we learn to give humanity a second chance. This is the great paradox for those of us on the healing path. The very humanity that so failed us or hurt us, is the same humanity that we need to heal us. (Fr. Joshua Makoul)
“Sometimes it’s really hard to accept that someone finds us worthy of being loved despite knowing the worst about us. But that is how God loves us. We know this in our heads but when it really sinks into our hearts it is both liberating but also motivating in the right way. It motivates us to freely love ourselves and others in the same forgiving and unconditional way He loves us.” (Sacramental Living Ministries)
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