Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented-- of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. (Hebrews 11:36-38, NKJV).
There are very few places in the entire Bible where humanity is seen in a positive light. God's view of fallen mankind is:
As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” “Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; And the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:10-18, NKJV).
But here in Hebrews, we see a very different picture of those whose hearts and lives are wholly the Lord's through faith, and it is the obverse of the implied answer to Jesus' question, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? (Mark 8:36, NKJV).
One soul is infinitely precious, and far outweighs the value of the whole world, rendering the world unworthy (of insufficient value) for even one soul given over to God. Allegiance to Christ, Who is superior to all things and persons, imputes to His ally, His value. Not that we are anything in ourselves, but in Him, we are beyond price.
This is the import of these wonderful passages in Hebrews defining and exampling the profound transformation of faith. Yes, from the world's perspective, we are inhabitants of a fantasy, a realm of wishful thinking.
For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God--and righteousness and sanctification and redemption-- (1 Corinthians 1:26-30, NKJV).
Self-worth is an illusion outside of faith in Jesus.
The world believes we need to learn to love ourselves. This is foolishness akin to the delusion that every day in every way things are getting better or better. We do love ourselves, beyond measure. It is God whom we need to learn to love, and that can only happen when our heart is created anew through faith in His Son. When He replaces our heart of stone with a heart of flesh.
Why God has chosen to redeem inveterate rebels is a mystery, but that He has is the epitome of mercy and grace. And it is no small thing to have done, requiring the birth and death of His beloved Son, the eternal Second Person of the Trinity, who became fully one of us, to die in our place, so that, in faith, we might become fully one with Him.
That is what makes the world unworthy.
Our natural view of things is very different from the truth. In our spiritually deadened state, we cannot see through the eyes of faith. We are blinded beyond any remedy within our power. Only in Him can we say, as the man in John 9 requiring the Lord's miraculous touch, I was blind but now I see.
While not all hatred directed at Christians stems from the world's enmity with God, for there are many of us thoroughly obnoxious in our own right, we are guaranteed hatred from the world the more He increases within us and we decrease.
More of Him and less of me is a formula that equates to eternal blessing, but temporal trials.
Whatever the world throws at us, in the end, does not matter. It is an unworthy opponent, and never be victorious, because we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us.
