“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

Genesis 1:27

This past month I’ve been doing this little series about self-worth. I’ve been writing because for so long I hated who I was, that I never fit in right. I wasn’t an A student, I wasn’t very good at sports, and I had a love for stories. I didn’t feel like I fit in, I felt worthless, I felt like I had no purpose in life. I was being attacked by the enemy and I was living like he had won. The truth is, our enemy has been defeated by a creator that says you are so worth loving. In the moments where I felt worthless, I had the creator of the universe telling me that I was created in his image. This same God created each of us in his image, and because of that, we have victory over the lies of the enemy. We are unique creations. We were not created to fit into the mold of the world. I say this to give hope to the kids that felt like me, to the ones who love being nerdy, write poetry over playing on the field, and love learning about the world around them. Maybe you feel like an outsider. Maybe you have a passion for people, that you love to write stories with worlds filled with infinite possibilities, or that you have a desire to make music that rings in the ears of so many. I believe in this world because I believe we have a God that made us all unique individuals with purpose. Maybe you love running on the field and feel at peace when you play, maybe you have the heart to heal others and invent new ways to help those that are sick, and maybe you love to dance and express your heart for the world. No matter what you desire and love doing, you have been created by a God that says you are so worth loving.

Life can be very unforgiving. I know in my life I have had to walk through death, through seeing my family struggle with addiction, and experience the creeping doubt that I will never do anything of value. I know in your life you have experienced hell. You’ve been told you aren’t beautiful, you have felt the sting of abuse and sexual violence, and you have had to live with the scars you inflicted on yourself and of past hurts. The truth is, you are made in the image of God, and that means that you are the most beautiful creation free of all past harm that has ever been done to you. This phrase of so worth loving is inspired by a clothing company of the same name. This past summer at the Orange Conference in Atlanta, I heard from the creator of this company, Eryn Erickson. What I heard was incredible. It was the story of how this clothing company became more of a lifestyle than a brand. The company is designed to let people know that they are truly so worth loving, encouraging those who feel that they are worthless. I love this. I love that there are things in this world that are designed to bring back hope, to let others know how special they truly are (I plan on getting several items because of this incredible mission). In my life, I need to be reminded of this. It’s so easy to listen to the lies of the enemy who tells us we are worthless, but we have a God who already won and defeated death. We need to understand the promise that this simple brand is telling us. We need to understand that we are truly so worth loving because we have been created by a loving creator.

Accept that you are loved.

We are a fallen people. It’s the sad truth. We chose in the very beginning to live independently from God, but he still loved us. This coming Sunday is Christmas, the celebration of Christ’s birth, a birth that fulfilled the prophecies in the Old Testament. God sent his son so that he could save us by sacrificing himself for each of us. 1 John 4:10 says, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” He loves us so much. He loves us even when we fall away and reject him. He loves us so much that he would make a sacrifice and challenge death. He gives us hope, because he is hope. In school people made fun of me, I had teachers tell me I wouldn’t amount to anything, and I felt so worthless. In these moments my parents reminded me that I was loved, not just by them, but by a God who came and died for me. He came and died for you too, because he loves you. You are so worth loving.

Live in the truth of love.

I had dinner with my friend Andrew last night. In the course of our conversation he said to me, “I think it’s so sad how we listen to the lies of Satan when he has been defeated. God already won, yet we still listen to the loser.” This is so true. We listen to the master of lies when we can enter a relationship with the king of truth. We need to understand, God already won, the enemy has no power over us. We may still experience hardship and face tough trials, but we can seek refuge in the love of the father. Because of this, we don’t have to entertain any thought of feeling worthless. We have been created to build the kingdom. Each of us are vital to the body of Christ, with individual talents and gifts that are unique and so special. We need to step into truth, and the truth is, we are created by a loving God. You are so worth loving.

Spread love to the hurting.

The beauty of living a life knowing how loved we are is that we can then go out and spread love to the broken around us. We have all been hurt and feel broken, so we need to spread the love of Christ to everyone around us. In school I started doing this. I chose to be friends with the outsiders and indoor kids. Now I still try to do the same thing. I try to use every conversation as an opportunity to show love. I choose to not make jokes at another’s expense and do my best to make others feel their true value. I think we all need to start doing this. We live in a very individualistic society, where our individual needs are the most important. We need to shift our minds and be other focused, only then can we impact the life of someone else. Just like the clothing company of So Worth Loving, we can send the message to everyone around us letting them know that they are loved and valued. We do this because we are all created in the image of God, and that gives us confidence to step out in love. You are so worth loving.

This has been on my heart for a while. This past month I have hoped that you feel encouraged and empowered. These are things that impacted my own life, and things I have to remind myself of everyday. We are all so worth loving. You are so worth loving. No matter what has happened and what hurts you may have had to walk through, you have been created by a God that loves you and he made you in his image. He sent his son as a sacrificed himself for you because he wants you to live in freedom. We need to know that we are loved, listen to the truth of the creator, and spread love to the broken around us. We can make a difference because we have been made in the image of God. We are so worth loving, you are God’s child and he designed you with purpose.

Step into the truth that you are so worth loving.

-Joshua Thomas