What is Your Net Worth?

By Leo Wanders (5/6 Teacher)

What is your Net Worth? (No, not the fishing net that you own or your internet connection or even the flat 2D plan that ‘magically’ folds into a 3D shape by your skill and origami-c expertise).

So much of the society we live in is based on and built around money. The number of sick days taken by Australians is calculated in dollar terms ($27.5 Billion - that’s a ‘B’, not an ‘M’). Lost productivity by public holidays is estimated in monetary value (the Grand Final holiday in Victoria is estimated to cost around $900 million). The cost of raising a child to the age of 17 in Australia is calculated to be around $230,000 (with no guaranteed return).  People are measured by their worth: How much money they can make for a company, how much money they can save a business, how much less money can they be payed legally and how much harder can they be pushed for the same amount of cash each week. Even stay-at-home mums/parents’ contribution to society is measured in monetary value, estimated to be a six figure amount if they were paid for all the tasks they do, including penalty rates.

Too many sick days and you are asked to leave. Too old? Sorry, it’s time to go. Don’t like the conditions? There are others who will gladly take your place, so bye bye. Businesses often put profits before people even though it’s the people who more often than not generate the profits. How can a multinational company bore down to the water table in an undeveloped country, use the water to make soft drinks to sell to the locals, and in so doing, not leave enough water for the locals to irrigate crops and herds? People versus profits, profits before people, profiting from people, profiting at the expense of people. Hmmmm, interesting questions.

Please note: I am not against money, making money, using money, business and businesses etc. Many are gifted in this area and this is GREAT!!!!

So, the question again: What is your Net Worth? $1 Million? $10 Million? $500,000? Could you actually put a figure on it? What monetary value do you place on a drug addict? A prostitute? A CEO of a multinational company? A rock ‘star’, a movie ‘star’? Your mum or dad? Your brother or sister?, your class mate? Your work mate? Are they all ‘worth’ the same ‘amount’?

Now, because this is in a Christian school newsletter, there is always an ‘other side’ to writings like this. So, here is that ‘other side’; the Christian side, the side that is designed to make you think even more than you have by reading the first bit (Don’t switch off now, there is not a lot left to read and the tag line is great).

Before God created the world (This is what we believe. Could it have been created by a big bang? Of course; God spoke and BANG!! It happened.) Sorry, I digress. Before God created the world, you and I were already in His mind and part of His big plan. Your uniqueness was designed by God. Your idiosyncrasies were part of that design. The steps of your amazing life were deliberately planned out by Him before the world was even in existence, and these plans of His are what’s absolutely best for you. He wants the very, very best for you. Wow, we must be pretty special, pretty valuable. God then says He will watch over us; cool. He says He will walk beside us; even cooler. He says He will guide us and lead us; how much cooler can God get? Well, let me tell you. He actually values you so much that He was willing to die for you!! That is totally way cool! And then… if that isn’t enough, He says that He is willing to live inside of us (His creation), to help us achieve the amazing plans He has for our lives! This is coolness beyond the realms of our ‘cool’ scale understanding and a reflection of how truly valuable we are… to God.

So, don’t ever, ever, ever be sucked in to seeing yourself or measuring yourself in societal dollar value terms. You are worth much, much more!!!!

(Tag line alert) So what is your Net Worth?

PRICELESS!