As I was perusing CNN.com this morning, a headline caught my eye: “Are laid-off workers ‘untouchables’?”

The article outlines how, while trying to secure a job in the worst economic downfall since the Great Depression is tricky enough as it is, being labeled unemployed brings additional obstacles.

According to the article, “Some recruiters interviewed say companies perceive the unemployed as weak performers or fickle workers. Or they worry that a person without a job has rusty work skills, especially if they haven't worked for more than six months. Or that an unemployed person will take a lower paying job out of desperation and then flee when a better job opportunity arises.”

I can relate to the frustration of the unemployed people profiled in the article. I am still looking for a job after getting laid off nearly 3 months ago. One thing I’ve learned over past few months is how easy it is to find worth in what we do. It’s our natural tendency as humans to want to feel needed and valuable, so hearing, “Your position in the company is being eliminated,” or “We’ve decided to pursue other candidates who we feel are a better fit for our organization,” is tough to swallow.

Besides giving me a thicker skin, the last three months has also reminded me that my value comes from who I am, not what I do.

Ephesians 4:20-24
But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Galatians 4:6-7
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

A son of God an co-heir with Christ, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Now that’s a far cry from untouchable.