Psalm 116:14-16 NET – 14 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord before all his people.15 The Lord values the lives of his faithful followers. 16 Yes, Lord! I am indeed your servant; I am your servant, the son of your female servant. You saved me from death.
What is most precious to you? Or who is most precious to you? Everybody likes to feel valued. We want to feel valued in our family, marriage, work, in every area of life. Why is it so important to feel valued? Being valued can lead in two different directions. On the positive side when we are valued, we feel loved and important. Being valued lifts our mood, gives us confidence, and a sense of security. But there is also a negative side to it when we have the false expectation of demanding to be valued. When we demand to be valued then it lifts our pride and makes us conceited. With the demand of wanting to be valued then you will only like a person as long as they continue to value you. We all want some kind of validation in life. Feeling valued does help to validate how people view us, BUT whether you are valued or not does not validate who you are as a person. You can still be a good person inside, even when people do not value you. People may value a person they admire who they do not know, like a celebrity, but popularity status does not validate the value of a person.
Our identity should be in Christ alone, not in people. Our identity should be in who we serve, and not based on what we do. How we value God says lot about our character and integrity as a Christian. No matter what type of label people try to put on you, all that matters is how God sees you.
We are highly valued by God, His love for His children matters the most. Imagine that, out of all of His glorious creation, God values us the most. We are priceless to Him. No matter how unworthy we may feel, God values us, we are worthy of His love. You may have remembered me sharing before about how accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior is the easy part. For me it was a no-brainer to accept Jesus in my heart. My life was out of control, I was drowning in sin, I felt hopeless and helpless. Thankfully, Jesus saved me and transformed my life. So even though it was easy for me to accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior, the hard part that I had struggled with was accepting the fact that He accepted me! I had to overcome the guilt and shame of my past, I knew I was forgiven, I knew I was set free, but still could not understand how God could love someone like me. I wasted so many years trying to tear down His kingdom when I was in the world. When I finally accepted the fact that I was accepted as a child of God, there was so much freedom to experience the fulness of God’s love. Accepting the fact that I am loved and valued by God had helped me to break free from guilt and shame.
If you are still struggling with accepting God’s love for your life, then please know and be encouraged that God truly does love you! God loves us more than anything on earth, and He loves us more than anyone in our life ever could love us! If you are still dealing with the guilt and shame of your past, then accept God’s love that He has truly accepted you!
Matthew 6:25-26 NET – 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t there more to life than food and more to the body than clothing? 26 Look at the birds in the sky: They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you more valuable than they are?
John 3:16 – NET 16 For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
God values His children, and He still values non-believers. Jesus was sent to earth for everyone. But to live eternally with Jesus we need to believe in Him and repent for our sins. The fact that Jesus has not returned to earth yet shows how much God still values people because God is waiting on everyone to hear the gospel of Jesus. God values people by waiting on them to repent and follow Jesus. God values His children by giving them hope, a hope that is available to all who believes in Him.
Matthew 24:14 NET – 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole inhabited earth as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
We do not know how much time is left, but we do know that God is waiting on us. The next time you question whether people value you or not, then just ask yourself these three questions:
- Do I value God enough to live for Him? Committed and set apart for Him.
- Do I value people enough to share the gospel of Jesus with them?
- Do I value people enough to share the love of Jesus with them?
God loves you and He values you!
