Our worth… based on what?

What makes us valuable and of tremendous worth to God is not the abilities we have been given and all we can do with them but who we are. Who he has made us to be and to what end we were made (to say it another way, if for some reason we lose some or all of those abilities are we now worthless? Not in God's economy!).

And who are we exactly? 

We are like God, in his image. And because we are we can participate in the very life of God in the same way God participates in his own life, a way no other creature can. (for more on this click here)

Because God is the greatest and most valuable being of all, our ability to participate in his life has a direct bearing on our value. It is the only basis for our true worth. Our doing doesn't cause God to value us, our being does i.e. who we are, who he has made us to be.

This is not to say our doing has no value at all. But it only has value to the extent our doing brings honor (points others) to God, the most valuable of all beings.

For a more in-depth discussion click here and here.