“YOU ARE MORE VALUABLE”
By Pastor Mark Taylor
"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny ? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." – Matthew 10:29-31
You are more valuable than you think you are. You are more valuable than others think you are. You are of great value to the God that created you and to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave His live for you.
In our technological world we are seeing the de-personalization of our lives. As we go through the day, we feel like a number instead of a person. A statistic instead of a human being.
Did you ever notice how important individuals are in the Bible? Individual men and women, with names, and families, and histories, and personalities, and strengths and weaknesses?
He called one man, Abraham. And then again, when God brought his people out of slavery in Egypt, He called one man to lead them, Moses. Finally, when the second Person of the Trinity, God the Son, entered into humanity in order to become our Savior and Redeemer, He did it as a man; Jesus the son.
Our Lord Jesus ministered to individuals. Yes, He taught the multitudes. Yes, He fed the five thousand. But when He healed people, it wasn’t in great masses. If He wanted to, He could have waved his arms and cured hundreds at a stroke. But instead, He placed His hands on them, one at a time, and He healed them, one at a time. In the gospels, we see Christ constantly interacting with individuals – the woman caught in adultery, the rich young ruler, the woman at the well, a demon-possessed man, a paralytic, a blind man, a centurion, a tax collector. When Jesus saw five thousand people, He didn’t just see a crowd. He saw five thousand individuals, with names and histories and futures. In the same way, when Christ looks at you and me, that’s what He sees – not anonymous faces in the crowd, but his precious, beloved children, whom He knows intimately and cares for deeply.
God’s plan for each of us is unique. He loves variety and diversity. God is working in your life differently than He is in mine or in someone else’s, it doesn’t mean that He loves you more or less. His plan for you isn’t better or worse than His plan for someone else, it’s just different.
"Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us." – Romans 12:4-6
When you or I go to God in prayer, He doesn’t say to Himself, "Oh, someone is praying." He doesn’t even say, "one of my children is praying." He says, "______ is praying.” (Put your name in the blank)
God’s personal love serves as a model for us to emulate in our love for one another. We all have our own faith journey to follow, and someone else’s may not look like yours. That’s OK. Let God deal with them as He sees fit.
The fact is that God knows and loves us by name, personally and intimately – that fact should motivate us to seek after Him, so that we might know and love Him in the same way. Just as we shouldn’t be satisfied with a superficial relationship to one another, we shouldn’t be satisfied to have a superficial relationship with our God. Christ, through His death, has removed every barrier, has removed every obstacle, has made it possible for us to truly know God. Not only that, but He invites us to do so, and desires that we do so.
God says, ‘Don’t be afraid’ every time you are afraid.” When you are knocked to your face in fear Jesus reaches down and touches you and says, “Don’t be afraid, it’s going to okay.”
You are loved by God and that is something you need to remind yourself of every day. You should love yourselves, because God loves you. You will be able to stand before God one day and understand His love for you. Understand that you are chosen by God to be one of His children, and He feels you are worthy and valuable. Learn to love yourself with your words, your smile, your actions. The more you love and accept yourself as God has made you, the more others will accept you. “I will praise You; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are marvelous and my soul knows it very well." (Psalm 139:14).
Our Lord said to “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39). Since Jesus said that we are to “love your neighbor as yourself”, then we can imply that He wants us to love ourselves. God has accepted you just as you are, with all of your hang-ups and problems. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Yes, He wants you to become better, but He died for those who had problems.
You are more valuable than the mountains, flowers, birds, and planets, that God created. Use your life to be a blessing to others and to show your love to the God who thinks you are more valuable than any other thing in His creation. Memorize and say this verse to yourself every day. “I will praise You; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are marvelous and my soul knows it very well.” (Psalm 139:14).
