You are Valuable

Two days ago we looked at the fact that God thinks about us and cares for us based on Psalm 8. But have you ever taken the time to ponder on what exactly God thinks about you? I ask because I believe we can fall into a trap of believing that God thinks negatively of us even after we have believed in Jesus and have been welcomed into the family of God. The idea for today’s blog began upon reading these words by Matt Chandler while doing research for Sunday’s sermon:

“You will not experience the joy of God’s grace and kingdom if you think the King is always disappointed in you. He is working on you, growing you, shaping you under the banner and covering of his love. He doesn’t need you to get your act together. He is helping you get your act together. This doesn’t mean we don’t repent of sin. This doesn’t mean sin doesn’t grieve our hearts. This is not permission to walk in rebellion. God disciplines those he loves. It does mean God is for you, not against you. He loves you.”

Those last words, “It does mean God is for you, not against you. He loves you” really stood out to me.  I must admit that I can sometimes find myself in a dark place spiritually and actually believe the lie that God either doesn’t care for me or doesn’t think much of me – but this couldn’t be any further from the truth! While God thinks many amazing things about us, one that I really felt I needed to share with you today is this:

“For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God” – 1 Peter 1:18-19 (NLT)