Our Significance

"Significance does not lie in what one can accomplish on one's own. It does depend on the one to whom one is connected. But everyone possesses true significance, because all are created in the image of God. There is no one else one could attach oneself to who could give a person greater significance than that person already possesses, by virtue of this connection to God. Furthermore, this significance is linked to creation, not to whether a person follows Christ. It is not just Christians who are inherently significant in God's eyes. All people bear the image of God in a way that unites them to one another and distinguishes them from the rest  of the beings in the universe. We do not have to be on the celebrity chasing carousel. We do not need fame or even a connection to famous ones. We already have something more, a direct connection to God, and this connection is the source of real significance. As we grasp the fact that this connection brings with it the opportunity to share in and reflect God's intratrinitarian relationship, then all of life begins to appear in a new light. The work we do, the human relationships we try to develop, the success we try to attain-these things need not be attempts to gain significance for ourselves. Rather, we can see them for what they are- opportunities to work out the implications of the significance we already have as people created in the image of God, people meant to share in his glorious presence."

Donald Fairbairn, Life in Trinity, 68. 

And, I would add: Jesus is the only way to restore us to this beautiful significance. Jesus is the way God has provided in order that we may fully share in life as it was meant to be lived, in connection to God. Without trusting in Jesus for our sense of significance, we will always be living on a carousel, trying to earn significance. Without Jesus, we will constantly be looking for significance, but will be doing so disconnected from the One from whom our significance actually comes.