worth in God

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” – Ephesians 2:8,9 I’m passionate about people understanding their worth apart from what they do. This is the heart behind the Creed of the Beloved that we say each week at Shepherd’s Grove, and it’s something that I believe we continually struggle with societally. Of course, our bent toward defining human value based on achievement goes back centuries, first to the Roman Empire, one of the greatest and most influential civilizations in the history of the world. Rome was the first meritocracy, which means that attaining power and influence in their culture was based entirely on accomplishment. So true was this that families would permanently memorialize notable members using something called death masks. Moments after a person passed away,