Unka Glen

benshim asked: How do I move to a place of serving, valuing, and loving people instead of judging their worth based on their accomplishments? When I first accepted the love of God I knew my value came from God and not my works. Recently, it’s been harder to remember what that was like, and I find myself thinking about how other people can change. I want to humble myself as Jesus humbled himself, but I don’t know where to start or what I’m aiming for. [edited for length]

Unka Glen answered: It’s wrong to judge people period, and it’s wrong to judge people based on their accomplishments, or lack of accomplishments, but ignoring accomplishments, and experience, and insight is wrong as well. We’re all equally loved by God, and we’re all equally saved, and everyone’s calling is of equal importance, since we’re all members of one body (1 Cor. 12). 

But if we were all in the same place in our walk with the Lord, nobody would be qualified to mentor or guide anyone else.  

There is a point in every believer’s walk where they find a deeper and deeper intimacy with God, they see more and more of who God is, and all of scripture and good doctrinal training begins to flow together, and make sense as a whole. In that moment there is a call to action of sorts, and this desire to serve puts us in a position of learning even more about God’s character as we share it with others.

When you reach that place, you can call it a prideful attitude when you look around and say, “hey, I don’t know much, but even I can minister better than this.” You can pretend that you don’t have a useful insight to share with others, but in the end you’re just hiding your light under a bushel.

If you weren’t mentored one-on-one by anyone, then it may be hard for you to know when your walk has reached a point where you’re ready to mentor others. But I can tell you that when your walk gets to that point, it will start with love, which leads to understanding, which leads to compassion, which leads to speaking the truth with gentleness and respect. 

Your worth is not measured by your accomplishments, not even in the things you accomplish for the Kingdom, as you’ll find many of those things were God accomplishing them through you. Your worth is measured in God’s love for you, and in His saving grace, your worth to others is measured in how much -and how well- you can share that love and embody that grace.