Your Real Value is Found in Jesus

(I Thessalonians 1:4) “We know, dear brothers and sisters, that God loves you and has chosen you to be His own people.”

Did you know that you are the apple of God’s eye?  Well, rejoice because you are!  (Deuteronomy 32:10) “In a desert land He found him, in a barren and howling waste.  He shielded him and cared for him; He guarded him as the apple of His eye.”  God gave man free will and to His sadness, some use that free will for selfish gain and to hurt those around them.  God gave us free will that we would love Him freely with a sincere heart.  When the decision to love someone is by your own free will, you will be truly devoted to that person; that is what God wants from us.

 (Hebrews 10:22) “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith.”    

God loves us completely and unconditionally and He wants that same kind of love back in return.

 (I John 3:1) “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!”   

  Everyone wants to be loved; and love is the reason behind the cross.

  (I John 3:16) “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us.   And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”

  People may have hurt you in the past and made you feel not valued and as if you and your feelings are not important.  People do not always love as easily as God does and you have to earn their love; but not so with God.  God loved us when He created us; (Jeremiah 31:3) “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.”   

He created us to be His family and when you receive Jesus, you become a child of God!   (John 1:12) “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believe in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.”

 It is that easy!  You don’t have to do anything to earn God’s love you just have to receive it!  (I John 4:16) “God is Love.”  (I John 4: 19)  “We love because He first loved us.”

 If you have been deeply hurt by others and feel as if you have to earn God’s love then go to Him in prayer and ask Him to heal your broken heart; He will mend it and fill it completely with His love.

 (Psalm 34:18) “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”  

People may make you feel like nothing; but in Christ you are royalty; a child of the King and His own special people!  He calls you special, so who are you going to listen to?

(I Peter 2:9-10) “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people.  Once you received no mercy, now you have received God’s mercy.”

  You are a son or daughter of God and do not let anyone make you feel as if you are not valued!  You are an heir; rejoice!  (Romans 8:17) “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory.” 

There is no greater act of love than to lay down your life for someone else and that is what God did for us through Jesus Christ.  (John 15:13) “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”  You are valuable to God; so much so, that He sent His only Son to die for your sin!  (John 3:16) “For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life;” and with God, unlike most people you do not have to earn it; just receive it by faith in Jesus Christ. 

When Satan tries to bombard you with thoughts that make you feel bad and unimportant and with the hateful words of others, words that demean and degrade you and make you feel small, remember what God did for you and trash those thoughts!  You are valuable to God; He died for mankind while we were sinning against Him; that should be enough proof in itself to prove His unconditional love.

 (Romans 5:8) “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this:  While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

 There is nothing you can do or not do that will make God stop loving you; so rejoice and be glad; believe it and receive it into your heart!  You are a child of God! 

(Romans 8:35-39) “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  As it is written: ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered a sheep to be slaughtered.’  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”