cost

Our world is very much dictated by trade, by our resources, and by our currency. Every day countries negotiate the value of the resources they have as well as need, and then trade organically flows. We go to shopping malls, mom-and-pop operations, antique stores, garage sales, retail stores, grocery stores, and sidewalk vendors to gaze at and oftentimes purchase items which are valuable to that particular location.There are items that particular individual or company has determined to be of value to the general public, or maybe even private collectors, and so things are bought so they can be sold, and sold so they can be bought or collected, or just used. Supply-and-demand is listed on Wikipedia as being "an economic model of price determination in a market." That to say, the rarer the item, the more it is worth.

In this model it is simple to affirm that our value is priceless, that because we are the only us on the globe, that there is nothing that can cheapen who we are, there is no man or woman who can tell us we are worth less than we actually are. My friend Lauren actually touched on this very topic yesterday, but it is also one that had come up over the weekend for me, so apparently our signals were in alignment at some point. She illustrated that how we let people treat us is in direct correlation with how we value ourselves.

God did not ant there to be any confusion whatsoever with where our value lies. Various scriptures discuss treating others as equals (Romans 12:3), or not showing favoritism to those in power over those who might be handicapped or weak (Matthew 9:10-13, James 2:1), and how God shuns those who put themselves above others (James 4:6). There are various other places that all seem to give me one big idea: we all hold the same priceless value. There is no man who ought to think lesser or greater of him or herself than someone else because, to Him who made us, we all come without a price tag and each one of us matters equally.

It is hard to see this in modern day society. We try to put proverbial price tags on ourselves with our possessions, our clothes, even our hairstyles (you won't catch this boy spending more than $25 on a cut, and he still looks good), but it is all meaningless. Worthless. I have found some of the richest people to be those that blend in and do not stand out. And to those that like the boost that a new designer jacket or pair of jeans can give you: enjoy it, revel in it, we all like to look nice and be our best for people, just do not forget that at the end of the day, you are just as special and valuable without that thing than you are with it.