Hello.

This is part 2.

You can read part 1 here.

Recently, when listening to a friend give a talk about how Jesus is better than we think and that we are more valuable to Him than we realize, there was a collective “Amen” from the audience. It was a touching moment because the room's response felt assertive and authoritative. It was the kind of moment when the voices of criticism, doubt and denial took notice. In the outside world - the way the room felt was resolute, assertive and confident. In my internal world - the way I felt was unsure, longing and hopeful. I began to ponder - “Do I know how valuable I am to God? Should I even be valuable to God? How am I valuable to God?”    

It's my conviction that we want to be valuable and the proof is love, desire for acceptance, feelings of security, and deep and meaningful connections. Even something negative like betrayal, is proof of being valued because pain is evidence that we want to be valuable; or even deeper yet, it's a lie that highlights we are not valuable. 

So at that moment, when my friend was presenting about the goodness of Jesus and our value as His creation, I identified four reasons why we are valuable - Cost, Desire, Love and Usefulness.

I wrote about Cost and Desire in part 1, so now let's look at Love and Usefulness.

3. Love - "For God so loved the world..." Those are famous words because they are 'seeking' words. They are words that illustrate and validate that God is love and that He is loving. More than God doing things that we would call acts of love, He is loving. Therefore, His behavior, His interaction with humanity, His words and His heart are expressions and realities of His loving nature. He is loving. We are valuable because God's love says so. These famous words in John chapter 3, not only verify that God is loving, but that He is generous too. So generous in fact, that He offered His own son as a sacrifice to set people free from the power of sin, destroy the effect of sin and restore people back into the intimate position of being sons and daughters of God. When we consider something or someone valuable, we should not think of monetary worth, the cost to purchase or the cost to maintain; but we should ask ourselves as to how much we love this thing or this person? I have pictures of art that my two older children made for me when they were in preschool (they are now in their early 20's). Why? Because, love says those scrap pieces of paper with crayola marks are the Van Gogh's that move my heart. Love validates the value and the fact that nothing can separate us from God's love; nothing can separate us from how valuable we are to God [1]. We are valuable to Him! We need to believe this and adjust our thinking to make room for such a powerful and life-altering truth.

4. Usefulness - In Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus, he says, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them" [2]. The word "workmanship" is best defined as "work of art" or "masterpiece". We are God's masterpiece; created to show the magnificence of God. We are privileged to be a part of God's family and exhibit His majesty and splendor. In the New Testament, we discover that all of God's creation has the purpose of revealing His glory and pointing people to our Creator God [3]. That is our purpose. We are called to reveal His glory and point people to a loving and generous God. We are not tools that God treats carelessly or trivially, but we are partners with God; partners, if you will, in the family business. When something is useful, it is valuable. When I was a kid, my dad had a favorite hammer. He worked in the construction industry, and so having a hammer was important. But "any old hammer" was not good enough for him. He wanted his hammer because it was the right length, weight and design, and it helped him be more accurate and efficient. It wasn't the most expensive hammer, but it was his favorite hammer. You could buy a dozen different hammers with a dozen different prices and it would not matter to him. He worked with "his hammer". It was valuable to him because it was useful to him. We ARE valuable because we are the sons and daughters of God, who God uses to unveil His power and kindness.

Take 15 minutes and ponder these two reasons - Love and Usefulness, along with the other two reasons - Cost and Desire. Think deeply and write down what you discover about God's unrelenting love for you.
1. Jesus believes you are so valuable, that He died for you and as you.
2. Because you are valuable, Jesus desires you and wants you to be where He is, no matter what.

Until next time....

[1] Romans 8:39
[2] Ephesians 2:10 NASB
[3] Romans 1:20 NIV