Our value

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 NLT)

Today’s Daily Hope devotional from Rick Warren talks about value.

As an exercise for myself I am thinking of three material things that I have lost over the years and I am now assessing their value to me:

1.) A mobile phone that my wife and I purchased as matching phones.

2.) A Diver’s watch that was originally my dad’s that I inherited when he passed.

3.) A 5-Quart Kitchen Aide Mixer (hahaha) that I totally forgot where I placed when I was moving from one apartment to another.

All three items had caused me so much heartache at the moment of losing them for different reasons.

The phone was a matching set that my wife and I had. We try to have as many matching things as much as possible, we’re weird that way, from the matching shirts down to the matching phones. So imagine my grief when one day as I was going out to work and halfway to my workplace I reached for where my phone should be in my pocket and it wasn’t there. I rushed back home, tossed the place upside down and sulked when I couldn’t find it.

My dad’s diver’s watch was forcibly taken from me as I was applying for work during a summer of my second year in high school by someone who had a knife to my side. Even up to this day I am still looking for that very same watch model to replace the original, but it’s value would never be replaced.

Losing this last item totally escapes me. For the life of me, how do you lose a Kitchen Aide Mixer unless it was purposely stolen? Of all the items in my kitchen arsenal, my Kitchen Aide was perhaps my most treasured one, it made my life easy as a cook and a caterer. It was beautiful to look at! It had a pristine ceramic white finish, polished chrome parts, complete attachments that allowed me to make anything from dips, cold sauces, desserts, pastries and breads. I remember shuttling back and forth from my new apartment to the old one feverishly rummaging through all of my remaining things hoping to find my most treasured mixer. To no avail.

So it is with spiritually lost people and God. Can you imagine the heartache that God has over one lost soul? It’s the kind of heartache that causes a great and mighty God to send forth His only begotten son into the world as a token of redemption, so that those lost to sin may be redeemed and be found again.

A spiritually lost person doesn’t lose his or her value with God. That person may lose his or her way in life, God’s protection, happiness and joy but not his or her value. That person will always be valuable to God. The Bible envisions angels rejoicing and praising God for every lost soul that is found. I can imagine the Almighty God beaming with such joy in welcoming those that were once lost to Him.

Today’s Daily Hope devotional speaks of your value to God. You and I are valuable to Him that He sent His only Son for our sake.

In our love for God, may we look at all the other lost souls and not think in our hearts that they have lost one ounce of their value to God. And if they are indeed valuable to God then they must be valuable to both you and I.

Let’s not forget: everyone matters to God.

Gleaned from: The Christmas Story Reveals Your Value.