The Practice of Worthiness

The Practice of Worthiness

This is a phase that has been playing in my head, over and over since last night.

We caught up with a special young girl, who has been a ray of sunlight in our lives over the last few years.

God has equipped her with a special warmth, and the gift of connection. She bears a radiance that only comes from hanging out with the Lord. Like anyone she faces her challenges, opposition and attacks on her character. She is a rare person who has taken the journey with us, and actually cares!

It is funny how she has now been asked by her Pastor to speak at church this weekend. I’ve been in church for all my life but she stands out amongst all (my beloved excepted) for her heart for the Lord. She reminds me of David who the bible talks about in glowing terms as one who has a heart for the Lord.

She has been part of a teaching program her pastor is running and was chosen to be the first to speak.

She was given a passage to speak on that I had read many times, but her revelation of it was profound. It is about a sick servant and his master seeking out Jesus on his behalf, asking for healing for the sick, and expecting that Jesus could just say the word from a distance and had the authority to make it so. Jesus talks about the masters amazing faith and then brings forth the healing he asks for. Makes sense and many times I have heard this story with a focus on faith and trust and authority.

For our friend, she found it was all about worthiness. That the master would consider the servant worthy of the effort to seek out Jesus, that he would see the servant as valuable even without status or standing, and request for the gift of healing beyond what many would think he is not worthy of.

It got me thinking about the prodigal son, who asked for and spent his inheritance, ended up eating the scraps in the pig pen, came to himself and came back to his father. The child said on his return, “I am no longer worthy to be called your son”, but asked to be just a servant. Given what he had done, we including his brother could be forgiven for expecting the lesser outcome, the barely scraping in, the judgement, the “if you a lucky you might get to sleep in the outhouse or the dog house”.

Luke 15:16-24 And he would gladly have fed on and filled his belly with the carob pods that the hogs were eating, but [they could not satisfy his hunger and] nobody gave him anything [better]. Then when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father have enough food, and [even food] to spare, but I am perishing (dying) here of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; [just] make me like one of your hired servants. So he got up and came to his [own] father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity and tenderness [for him]; and he ran and embraced him and kissed him [fervently]. And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son [I no longer deserve to be recognized as a son of yours]! But the father said to his bond servants, Bring quickly the best robe (the festive robe of honor) and put it on him; and give him a ring for his hand and sandals for his feet. And bring out that [wheat-]fattened calf and kill it; and let us revel and feast and be happy and make merry, Because this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found! And they began torevel and feast and make merry.

But no! The Father asks for the fattened calf to be prepared, the feast to be put together, a robe to be put upon him and the ring of authority to be put on his finger! What the heck?

I heard a great sermon on this from another young kid at a big church conference with 15000+ in attendance. He was 19 but was asked to speak to all. He was considered worthy to speak despite his age.

He said, and his words still echo in my ears “We need to come out of our worthiness world, and receive our worth from the one who is worthy”. We practice, being perfect, doing the right things, saying the right things, particularly in church circles. We put on the pretense of having it all sorted, when really it is a war zone, but we are overcomers, and more than conquerors!

How to we practice worthiness? It blows my mind! It is not about performing better, or obtaining a higher status, or obtaining some enlightened place. It is fundamentally about receiving our identity. How can a son become a servant! Can he change his DNA, his appearance, whom he resembles? Does he not still look like His Father and Mother? He may behave like a servant, if he has accepted this counterfeit identity, but he will always be the son!

His value is not in what he does, but in who he is, who he is in relationship with, whose family he belongs to.

It is about putting on our new identity in Christ, with His ring of son ship, about who we are not how we perform!

I’m excited to hear and see more of what worthy looks like! If only we would behave as worthy daughters and sons of the King! If only we would accept the ring of authority, the robe of position, then sit at the Royal banquet as powerfully anointed and appointed people, on appointment from the King!