A father said to his daughter, “Congratulations! You have graduated with honors. To celebrate, I’m giving you a car I acquired several years ago. It’s a bit older now. But before I give it to you, I want you to take it to the used car lot downtown and tell them I want to sell it and see how much they offer you for it.”
The daughter went to the used car lot, then returned to her father and said, “They offered me $1,000 because they said it looks pretty worn out.”
The father said, “Now take it to the pawnshop and see what they’ll offer you.” The daughter went to the pawnshop, then returned to her father and said, “The pawnshop offered me only $100 because it’s just an old junk car.”
The father then asked his daughter to go to a local car club and show them the car.
The daughter took the car to the club, then returned and told her father, “Some people in the club offered me $100,000 for it because it’s a Nissan Skyline R34. They said it’s an iconic car and sought by many collectors.”
Then the father told his daughter, “The right place values you the right way. The right people value you the right way. If you are not valued, don’t be angry. It simply means you’re in the wrong place with the wrong people. Those who know your value are those who will appreciate you. Never stay in a place where no one sees your value.”
Have you ever wondered why God values you so much? Have you ever asked where your worth comes from?
We constantly try to increase our value. “You can never be too rich or too thin”, we’re told. “You can never be overdressed or overeducated”, they say. And the world we live in reinforces those value statements at every turn.
But in God’s economy, none of those things applies.
God doesn’t value you based on what you bring to the table. Or based on what you look like. Or based on your genetics or your accomplishments. God doesn’t gauge your worth based on something special he sees in you. God doesn’t consider you based on your potential, either.
Furthermore, keep in mind that we were God’s enemies:
We were God’s enemies, but he made us his friends through the death of his Son. Now that we are God’s friends, how much more will we be saved by Christ’s life!
Romans 5:10 GNT
The fact is that God’s love for us isn’t based on us at all. He doesn’t love us because of what we do, or what we’re born into, or what we’ve become.
God loves us because of who HE is. Because he is, in fact, love.
Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. And God showed his love for us by sending his only Son into the world, so that we might have life through him. This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven.
1 John 4:8-10 GNT
Today, be reminded of God’s love. Make the scripture above personal, and read it out loud:
God showed his love for me by sending his only Son into the world so that I might have life through him. This is what love is: it is not that I have loved God, but that God loved me and sent his Son to be the means by which my sins are forgiven.
Now read it again. Yes, out loud. So you can hear with your own ears just how much God loves you.
That’s worship.
–Pastor Steve.