Know Your Value

So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. 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 1:16-18

This life we are given is so precious.  I think about my life.  There are moments of happiness and where things have gone well.  There are other moments of sadness and grief.  There are achievements and disappointments and successes and failures.  It is fair to say that life is indeed a roller coaster.  However, God has been a constant through all of it.  But if He is truly in control, why are there so many ups and downs?  Can’t there just be a level of consistency that one might consider ‘normal?’

The answer to that question is emphatically ‘no!’  The good times are those where we are enjoying God’s blessing.  The bad times are when God is shaping us for His will to be done.  You see when we take life as a gift, all that comes with it is of value. When my teenage daughter is pushing every button to get a rise out of me or my wife is asking the same question for the third time, somehow, I find joy because I love them so much.  It does not mean it is not a temporary source of irritation.  It means that there is a bigger picture to focus on, and if I am not careful, one can let the moment overwhelm the reality.  Jesus talks about this when He refers to storing our riches in Heaven (see Matthew 6:20-21).  We can easily get caught up into those things that are worldly and focus on those things as what we value.  However, God does not value our possessions.  He values us, and no matter how we may resist, defy, or challenge Him, we are still valued to Him.

We are God’s most prized possession.  Last week, I spoke of the prodigal son realizing he was lost as part of his (and our) journey of faith.  Today, we are to realize who we are to God, and as such, we must value all that He values.  One of the reasons Jesus said part of the Greatest Commandment is we are to love our neighbors as … ourselves is to acknowledge how valued we are to Him.  Our self-worth is not based on our sense of indulgence or vanity.  Instead, it is the worth God places on us.  Not some parts of us.  Not most of us.  All of us.  As such, we are to value God above all as Deuteronomy 6:5 says, “And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.”  This require our taking God’s word to heart.  This is where the real struggle often occurs.  Our goal is to have a willingness to engage the struggle within prayerfully.  It is a struggle because we will often not agree with what the word says, but if we are willing to acknowledge the greater value of a closer relationship with God, we agree it is worth it.

You are worth so much to God!  So much so that even as we do not meet God’s standard, he sent His son Jesus Christ to fix it.  In prophesying the coming of Jesus, Zechariah said:

Praise the Lord, the God of Israel,
    because he has visited and redeemed his people.
He has sent us a mighty Savior
    from the royal line of his servant David,
just as he promised
    through his holy prophets long ago. Luke 1:68-70

We are redeemed from sin because He loves us so.  Let us work to return the favor by loving Him and others as His most prized possessions.  What reassurance do you have knowing your worth to God?  How can you instill a sense of God’s value in others?  My prayer is that we know our value to God.  Amen.

Really Walking With Faith

Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight.  We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.  So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.  2 Corinthians 5:6-10

I remember many years ago when my first girlfriend broke up with me.  The feeling of being heartbroken while a distant memory is one that I still remember vividly.  I think about the weeks of sadness and emptiness afterward.  It was not a pretty or fond memory at all.  Not deterred by the moment, I had faith that one day I would find that special someone.  I said to myself, “The pain I suffer today is the price I pay for the love I want tomorrow.”  Those words were never truer as a year later, I would meet the woman who would be my wife.  She has been everything that embodies the love explained in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.  She is patient and kind, and not envious, boastful, proud, dishonoring, self-seeking, easily angered, or delighted by evil.  She always protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres.  I could write forever on those verses and virtues, but today’s devotion is not about her love.  It’s about those times when darkness arises.  When you feel lost and all alone and nothing resembles hope, how can you endure?

When you have faith in God, there is always a beacon of light to follow through your darkest times.  When times are good, we enjoy life and all that surrounds it.  However when times are bad, we are often faced with pain, suffering, and or a feeling of loss or isolation.  Some may come from the loss of a spouse or family member.  Many have broken relationships and families, and others are dealing with a failure or humiliation of mass proportion.  This is where we often look to God for help, but the faulty belief is that we want God’s answer as what we envision is the best thing.  That is not faith in God.  That is faith in the desired outcome.  We must remember that faith in its very definition is confidence or trust in something.  It does not say, “Help me to get what I want.”  True faith in God says, “God, I know you are with me.  Guide me and help me to find solid ground and Your peace wherever that may be.  Provide me the light to follow You for I know all good things come from You.”  This faith says I do not know the outcome, but I trust in you the Almighty that everything will be alright.

God is always there when we need Him.  Our faith in Him requires that even when we do not see the destination, we feel His love and protection.  We know He is as David said, “Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14b)  Let us not fall into the trap of what we see, hear, or feel today.  Let us have full confidence and trust in the one who is without question the great ‘I am!’  What darkness, pain, or suffering is in your life that you need to have greater faith in God?  How can you push your desire less and trust in God more?  My prayer is that no matter how dark things may seem, we walk with faith knowing God will always make things right.  Amen !