Monday, October 14, 2013

Priceless

Have you ever felt unimportant? Have you ever felt insignificant? Have you ever felt as if you didn't matter? If you have not, count yourself extremely fortunate. Most of us can so clearly identify with feelings of inadequacy and insufficiency. Contrary to our feelings, God places great value on us. He sacrificed it all just to reconcile us back to Himself. The Bible likens us to a valuable lost coin and so important that everything else ceases until we are found and returned to Him. (Luke 15:8-10) We are also compared to lost sheep (one among many) and the Shepherd leaves the 99 sheep to come after just one of us because we are THAT important to Him. (Luke 15:3-7)



I would be remiss if I did not balance out this encouraging post with a healthy dose of humility. We live in a society filled with narcissism where all the focus is on self. "Do what feels good." "Look out for number one." "I, I, I." "Me, me, me." As a result, we have a generation that wants to know what faith in Christ can do for THEM. How will they benefit?  This is not the importance I am referring to. I am reiterating your value for the Kingdom of God. He did not reach down and rescue us so we could obliviously live our lives with some false sense of heaven-bound security. We are on assignment. Our reasonable act of appreciation to the Lord for His indescribable sacrifice is to offer our lives to Him. (Romans 12:1) Our love and commitment to Him should so overflow from us that our greatest desire is to share it with this hurting, desolate, hopeless world we live in. Otherwise, why wouldn't He just miraculously transport us into heaven once we are redeemed?

Dear one, when feelings of inadequacy, unimportance and insignificance seem to overwhelm you, meditate on His amazing love for you and how He sacrificed it all just to have a relationship with you. Even when you despised Him or ignored Him or didn't even acknowledge His existence, He still sacrificed it all in hopes that one day you would see how great His love is for you. (Romans 5:8) 
 
Surely you recognize that you would not sacrifice your life for something that has little or no value. How much more the Creator of all things would not waste His time redeeming something of no value. He places great value on us because He desires to know us intimately and He wants us to be in a loving relationship with Him.
 
The Bible says He fashioned and formed us while we were still in our mother's womb. (Psalm 139:13) You are His masterpiece, one of a kind, formed by His majestic Hands. If you were a painting, you would be exceedingly more valuable than any Van Gogh, Picasso, Rembrandt, da Vinci or Michelangelo because you were inspired and created by the Master Artist, The Maker of all things beautiful and lovely. (Ephesians 2:10)
 
It is my prayer that today you would have a revelation of how important you are to the Lord. I am asking the Lord to place His Hand upon you today and pour out His amazing love on you so you might know the neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate you from the amazing love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39) Because you are priceless.