Your personal worth

I am revealing something about my age when I admit I once had my social security number printed on my checks. Many people 25 years ago did; it was a matter of efficiency. Today no one would dream of doing that.

Every person with an email account has received numerous messages informing us that someone somewhere has a huge sum of money they cannot wait to deposit into our account; they just need our personal information to give us millions of dollars. They are of course merely trying to gain access to our account so they can empty it, and perhaps even worse, use our personal information to take out new loans.

Having your identity stolen is a big deal. A friend of mine had that happen to him several years ago. He was nearly arrested for crimes which he had not committed and knew nothing about.

Several years ago, Brianna Priddy, an Applebee’s waitress in Lakewood, Colorado, lost her wallet. Her cash, credit cards and driver’s license were gone, and she soon discovered checks were being written using her name.

She began the lengthy process of putting her financial life back together. Two weeks after her nightmare began, four customers walked into the restaurant and sat down in her section. As required, when they ordered drinks, she asked to see their IDs and was shocked when one of the women handed Brianna her own driver’s license.

She recalled later that she put on her best “server’s smile”, handed the license back and said brightly, “I’ll be right back with your margarita,” Before returning with the drink she called the police, and then tried to act normal. As you can imagine it was not at all easy.

When officers arrived the fake “Brianna Priddy” was arrested and charged with theft, identity theft and criminal impersonation. She apparently had to learn this lesson the hard way, but hopefully she has come to understand that crime does not pay.

Perhaps she learned another lesson as well, one that King Solomon wants all of us to learn. “Better to be poor and honest than to be dishonest and rich.” (Proverbs 28:6, NLT)

Who you are is not determined by how much you have. Each of us can be honest whether we are rich or poor and we can be dishonest no matter how much or little we possess. God wants us to know that we have personal worth not because we have money, but because we were created with immeasurable worth by him.