Value

It's no secret that this world is falling apart.  Never mind politics, all you have to do is open your eyes and look around at all of the hurting people.  People are searching, looking for an answer to the pain, and they're looking places they will never find permanent peace.  This is not a "new" problem, although it does seem that people are getting more creative and dangerous with the way they fill their voids.  

What if we just valued life again?  

"O LORD, you have searched me and known me! 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. 3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. 5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it."  Psalm 139:1-6 

This Psalm is flooded with deep emotion.  The verb "searched" means to examine with pain and care.  The Jewish people used this word to describe digging deep into a mine, exploring a land, or investigating a legal case.  God does that with our hearts.  Our friends see the outside, and as much of the inside as we let them see--but God sees it all.  We cannot deceive Him.  

Adam and Eve tried to.  Cain tried.  And even the author of this Psalm, King David tried, and all of them discovered that God knew everything about them.  

God knows everything.  He knows our actions, our locations, our thoughts and words, our ways and our motives.  

"And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account."  Hebrews 4:13

But even more, He knows what's best for us--and He does all He can to guide us that way.  His knowledge of who we are is for our protection.  Imagine if He didn't know everything how messed up we would be! 

This isn't a new concept.  Most of us know and understand that God knows everything.  But many of us attempt to operate on two levels.  While we understand intellectually that God knows everything about us, on a day-to-day level, we live as if we can keep secrets from Him.  Maybe even as believers, we have this fear that if God knew everything about us, He might somehow reject us.  We have difficulty comprehending that God can know the truth about us and accept us anyway.  

How much is something worth?  Easy--whatever someone will pay for it right? 
Things are worth whatever people will pay for them, and the same is true for our lives. 

In God's eyes--our value is based on the price that was paid for us.  

"....God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8 

Jesus paid for our salvation, our eternal lives--with His life.  That places infinite value and worth on us.

 "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."  1 John 4:9-10 

Our sin (and we all have it) warrants God's wrath and anger, but by being our propitiation, Jesus satisfied God's wrath by paying the penalty for our sin, taking the wrath on Himself on the cross.  

You matter to God.  This Psalm affirms how important we are to Him.  Every man, woman, and child God has created matters deeply to Him.  Let that sink in.  Don't take God's love for granted.  Don't grow too comfortable with God's love and miss the truth that His sacrifice on our behalf sets our invaluable price tag! 

A.W. Tozer wrote, "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us."  Think about it.  Our beliefs about God determine how we view ourselves and how we live.  Wrong ideas about God will ultimately lead to wrong ideas about who we are and what we should do, and this leads to a wrong life on the wrong path toward the wrong destiny.  In other words, theology--the right knowledge of God is ESSENTIAL to a fulfilled life.  You don't get this knowledge by thinking nice thoughts, occasionally doing nice things, and never picking up your Bible.  

In Psalm 139, we see a God who knows all, loves all, and is actively involved in each of our lives--whether we recognize it or not.  

And David is blown away by this.  He reacted exactly like we should.  David was overwhelmed, and the thought of God provoked him to praise! 

God knows us better than we know ourselves.  We are so valuable to Him.  And He feels this way about every single person He has created.  Let me ask you a question that I had to ask myself last year about this time.....

Why aren't you telling people that? 
Could it be that you've not really grasped it yourself? 

I mean I know that we will never have a complete grasp of how much God loves us this side of Heaven.  But have you really let His love sink in? 

God used some very trying, very difficult circumstances in our lives last year to turn our spiritual walk upside down.  And I have come to the point where I thank Him everyday for it.  You see, we become spiritually stagnant when we are not sharing our faith....and that had become my life.  On the outside, it looked like I was on fire for God, and oh my goodness I wanted to be--but God searched my heart, and I didn't like what He showed me.  Turns out I didn't really need God to "do" Christianity my way.  The only way to fix that is brokenness, and that's exactly what He did.  Now?  I've shared my faith more in the last 4 mos than the entire 19 years I've been saved.  That's a God thing.  

God knows the path that we are on.  He values each one of us.  Are you telling people that?  The need is far too great to claim ignorance.

2 Billion people live on less than $2 a day.  That's 1/3 of our planet.  

Every 45 minutes, around 1800 people die because of dirty water.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  Some research shows that $10 billion might be enough to provide clean water for every human being on the planet.  Guess what?  We (Americans) spend that much money (or more) on movies every year.  We spend four times that much every year on our pets!  Doesn't that sound a bit like a Pharisee? 

Each year, an estimated 600,000-800,000 men, women ,and children are trafficked across international borders (some research places the number much higher), and the trades continue to grow.  Little girls, my son's age are sold to be sex slaves.  

And abortions?  95% of abortions occur for reasons of convenience.  A very very small percentage are because of rape, or medical issues.  

God values these people.  All life is precious.  We are blessed to live here.  Beyond blessed.  And while we're complaining, and getting fatter, and more in debt--I envision God saying CHURCH!  Wake up!  I have given you all the tools you need to change this world.  Why aren't you doing it?  

And yet He is so patient with us, because He values us.  And He loves us.  

God values us.  Have you thought about that lately?  And, here's a life changing thought--He is always with us.  He is active in our lives.  Don't have any friends?  Who cares!  God thinks about you.  You are valuable to Him.  

And if you've accepted Christ as your Savior--hold on to your seat and read this verse: 

"In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance untilwe acquire possession of it,to the praise of his glory."  Ephesians 1:13-14 

Not only is God present in your midst--He lives IN you through the Holy Spirit! 

God gave you His Spirit because you matter to Him, and He wants to accomplish His purposes in your life.  

We lose sight of ourselves, when we lost sight of God.  It's difficult to perform the tasks He asks of us, with all the clutter in our lives.  God values us.  And He wants to desperately for us to share that precious truth with those who have no knowledge of who He is--and you don't have to do it on your own, because He is with you.