Hearing from Calvin, second hand

Went to an AMAZING "bookshop" last week, well, more of a house stacked FULL of second hand books... some very old indeed... was great to pick up some Calvin commentaries for under a £10... brilliant... Romans for a fiver, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians set for £2 - remarkable! Lightfaded pages, and the names of previous owners in the cover... intriguing! I was reading through his on Daniel... and was probably most struck by the prayers that he starts each section with. Here is a man who understands his natural position before the Sovereign God, and the unmerited grace and favour shown to him from Him! I should put some up on here actually! Here is a man who most definetely knew his God!!!

Self Worth

I get emails from GotQuestions each week, which are helpful at looking at what the Bible has to say about various topics... this weeks was on self-worth, and can be read here... a student in Plymouth while I was there on mission recommended them to me, and I certainly pass on that recommendation today.

The article ends:

"Our self-worth is too often based on what other people tell us about ourselves.
The one, true authority on our self-worth is Jesus Christ, and since He gave His
own life up for us by dying on a cross, that should tell us just how valuable we
really are."

Helpfully justified earlier in the article:

"The Bible tells us that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans
5:8). In fact, we were “were dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). What
worth is there in dead things? None. God imputed to us His own righteousness (2
Corinthians 5:21) not because we were worthy of it, but because we were
unworthy, unlovable, and unable to make ourselves worthy in any way. But—and
here’s the miracle—He actually loved us in spite of our condition (John 3:16)
and because He did, we now have infinite worth."

When we look at the Cross, we don't just see our "self-worth" wrapped up in the love God has shown toward us... we see the seriousness of our sin (it takes His Son on the Cross to deal with it); we see God's righteousness, as he justly justifies through the Cross; we see his mercy and grace, by which we are saved; we see God's glory - a glory that we will share in, as we stand in his grace! What worth has been bestowed upon those who call out in their unworthiness!

The article is worth a read... along with this post from a brother that follows on nicely