Most homeowners are usually interested in maintaining or increasing the value of their homes. We make repairs and upgrades for our own satisfaction, but in the back of our minds we know we are making improvements that will increase the assessment value of the home. 

A greater interest to all of us should be the personal value that we bring to our community or neighborhood. Let’s ask ourselves today, “What worth or value am I to my community and others?” Do we simply reside in the community with no interest or service to our neighbors or their well-being? As you look at your community, think about the tremendous void or emptiness it would bring if some of your neighbors relocated or departed due to death. Or maybe it would not impact you one way or the other. Maybe over the years, the neighbor’s worth depreciated rather than appreciate due to lack of interest in others.

I recently heard a lady tell the story of how she missed her former nosey neighbor who had moved out of the community. There was the realization that the former neighbor was of great worth to the community, for she was the personal private security agency for the neighborhood.

Have you as a person increased in value since moving into your home regardless of how long you have been there? Let’s hope so. Are we of merit or a liability to our neighborhood is another question we should be asking? Let’s try to leave a legacy behind so that others may speak positive of us once we have moved on.

Recently, a new family moved into the community. Before the family could even get settled into their new home, they already felt unvalued and unloved due to the initial treatment received from neighbors. The community had already deemed the new family a liability and unacceptable rather than an asset.     

Before we can become valued by our communities or others, we must first appreciate our self-worth. We must appreciate who we are before we influence others to accept and embrace us. Psalm 139:13-15 should help us understand our self-importance, for it reads: “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.”   

When God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Since the beginning of time, we have had value and worth because we are in the likeness of God.

God showed us how much He values and loves us by sending His son to die on the cross for us. He died so that we might be rescued from sin and establish a greater relationship with Him. Even though we were beautifully and wonderfully made in the image of God, all of us have fallen short of God’s glory (Romans3:23). Now we can be saved from sin because that is how much God loves and values us.    

Because God loves us, he expects and requires us to love others. God calls his people a peculiar people, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, even His own special treasure. Now, if no one else seems to value you, just know that God loves you, but He expects for us to love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind.

With God, our value never decreases, therefore we should never feel unvalued or unloved. For Romans 38: 39 reminds us that, “nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”           

If your neighbors have put up privacy fences, cedar trees as barriers, gates, cameras directed at your home, etc., just maybe the neighbor does not value you as much as you deserve to be valued.

May we put forth a concerted effort to show others they are valued and loved. If we live a life of love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, others may find your value to be priceless or indispensable.

Not a sermon, just my thoughts!

Robert Earl Slade, Pastor