MY WEALTH IS NOT IN WHAT I OWN

          If you are a citizen of the United States, you may presently still be trying to complete your annual income tax.  This can be a very stressful time for most of us.
          Even if we have it done by a tax preparer, the process still requires us to review all of our financial investments and income – wages, IRA’s, bonuses, deposits, stocks, bonds, debts, etc.  Generally, we consider these things to be our personal wealth.  But as we’ve probably learned with recent inflation, this wealth can quickly come and go.

           In addition, one of the struggles we each face is the search for significance. Our 21st-century sense of identity is grounded in individualism, self-entitlement, and narcissism. From whom we marry to what career choice we make, to what church we attend, every choice is geared around what these things do for us.  This attitude of consumerism is one of the most prevalent idols in Western culture and has become an epidemic even in the church.
          This week’s choice is a song that speaks to the subject of worth by reminding us that true significance is found not in our financial wealth but in our identity in Christ.   It was written by Kristyn and Keith Getty and Graham Kendrick, in an attempt to share that we, as men and women created in the image and likeness of the Creator, are created with intrinsic worth. In Christ, no longer do we look to our own accomplishments and achievements to find significance. We look instead to his perfect work on our behalf, and there our souls find the true sense of identity we so crave. The chorus of their song reminds us Jesus is an inheritance and treasure far greater than anything this world has to offer.  
          According to William Temple, “My worth is what I am worth to God, and that is a marvelous great deal, for Christ died for me.”
          This hymn covers a diversity of themes—stewardship, accomplishment, youth and beauty, idolatry, worth, and the atoning work of Christ on our behalf.  It reaffirms that as redeemed men and women our identity is wrapped up in Christ, the sinless Son of God.
          So as you struggle completing your income tax, rejoice that your wealth is not in what you own, but in the costly wounds of love … at the Cross.

My worth is not in what I own

Not in the strength of flesh and bone

But in the costly wounds of love

At the cross

My worth is not in skill or name

In win or lose, in pride or shame

But in the blood of Christ that flowed

At the cross

I rejoice in my Redeemer

Greatest Treasure,

Wellspring of my soul

I will trust in Him, no other.

My soul is satisfied in Him alone.

As summer flowers we fade and die

Fame, youth and beauty hurry by

But life eternal calls to us

At the cross

I will not boast in wealth or might

Or human wisdom's fleeting light

But I will boast in knowing Christ

At the cross

Two wonders here that I confess

My worth and my unworthiness

My value fixed - my ransom paid

At the cross

 

Listen to it here.    WEALTH