True Worth: Galatians series - Tim Knipp (Gal. 6)

To be held in high esteem
we strive daily,
whether earned or feigned,
the goal remains:
to avoid abasement
and ridicule,
to maintain a firm grasp
of our self-perceived selves
though the outlines tremble.

Yet all that
is shifting smoke -
see it waver, fade,
dissolve.

The only honor 
worth clinging to
is what Christ did for me.
I no longer need 
the world's esteem -
that false measuring stick
that zeroed out my Lord
and tried to color Him shamed
by an obscene 
and ignominious end.

He, and He alone
can set my value
because He fooled them
by having power
even over death.
He clothed Himself
with our shame -
yours and mine -
then ripped it from Him
and rose
to claim His well-deserved
throne.

Today, once again
foundations have shifted.
Identities have proved translucent,
no longer holding sway
and we wonder 
who we are
apart from familiar constructs.

Yet Paul reminds us:

Trust not in yourself
or your reputation or riches
but in Christ's life,
His death
and resurrection.
Everything about Him 
declares our worth
and as we cling to that,
He transforms us
into diadems --
mirrored fragments --
refractions
of His glory.

Shine on.