Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Most Prized Possession

 


Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.  He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.  James 1:17-18

My youngest daughter is quite a challenge.  Because of those challenges, my heart is a bit burdened today. I worry about her.  I ask God if I have given her the right direction.  She is not a wild child.  But today, she seemed to weigh on me.  When she wanders off the right path and makes a mistake, you ask yourself if you could have done something differently or pointed her in a direction that would have made everything alright.  Was I too harsh?  Will she make the right choices when she grows up?  Will she reach out to her mother and me when she cannot pick up the pieces?  It is difficult to know like God knows.  When I said that to myself, I then realized something.  She is a gift.

Through all that she has put me through, the many years of tireless arguments over the same things and pressing her repeatedly about what she should do, I’m still thankful to have her as my child.  She could have been any number of places.  But God gave her to Loretta and me.  Through all sixteen plus years, she has been a gift to us.  I am humbled and blessed to have that opportunity to be her Dad, and I need to remember how God saw me.  I certainly was not His best child, but He still loved on me, and He patiently waited to mold and grow me.  And when I was distant from Him, He did not leave me out in the wilderness.  He pursued me until I found my way back to His house.  Despite all our daughter puts us through, we always helped her find a way home.  That is what a good shepherd does with prized possessions.

We are all gifts to God.  When I say ‘gifts,’ I am not saying it in the sense we are to feel entitled or privileged.  Instead, it means to be viewed as something valuable.  If we understand who God is, then we know anything that He values is ultimately priceless, and above all things, we are those who He values most.  Another way to look at God’s value of us is to think of Jesus’s Parable of the Lost Sheep.  Listen how Jesus describes it:

If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it?  And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders.  When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’  Luke 15:4-6

God does not have favorites or sees anyone either more or less valuable.  He sees all of us as His prized possessions not wanting to lose even one of us.  As such, all that we are and all we are given are from Him.  This is amazing to know and more importantly, invaluable to remember particularly at this time of the year.

Our greatest gift is the life God has given us.  Whether it is a child, spouse, family, and friend, all of it comes from Him, and no matter where you see yourself, take a moment to see yourself as God sees you.  The reason Jesus called it The Greatest Commandment is that we are to not only love God but to love our neighbors as … ourselves.  Thus, if we do it right, we do not see others as lesser nor greater.  We see what God sees: an abundance of gifts.  Let us celebrate this Christmas knowing the best gift was not gift wrapped.  It was wrapped in swaddling clothes.  Whose lives will you acknowledge as a gift to you?  How can you value your life as God values it?  My prayer is today we spend time remembering we are God’s most prized possession.  Amen, and Merry Christmas!

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