Value
Today, Debbie and I started out the day trying to overcome our mutual technology deficit in getting some issues addressed on email, computers and I-pad. I’m not sure sure if we really understood how we were making it work, but in the end we got all of our issues resolved. I am frequently made aware that technology has long passed my ability to take full advantage of what is has to offer. You know the “I didn’t know I (or it) could to that!” moment. I told someone that it was little disconcerting watching my almost 23 month old granddaughter playing with her mom’s I-phone when they were with us earlier this month.
After surviving the technology challenges and some of our normal morning routines, we went to Loveland for a nice later lunch. Of course that created the need for a nap, at least for me, while Debbie ran some errands. That means I will do some “at home” exercises instead of going to the fitness center.
BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY…. “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” Matthew 6:26
What we value impacts our life greatly. It establishes priorities and it is a source of joy and sometimes sorrow. Who values us has an even greater impact on our life. The need to be loved and valued by others is a basic human need. We need to know that others care about us and that in the phrase of today, “that they have our back.”
One of the greatest challenges in our world today is when people for a myriad of reasons do not feel valued. I recall one person making the simple statement about her life, “I know what’s like to not to be wanted.” As we enter the Christmas season we are reminded of our value to God. God’s love for us and value for us as His creation compelled Christ to come as that baby in Bethlehem manager. The express purpose of the next 33 years would be for Christ to identify with people and to lay down His life for them.
Two verses from John’s gospel reveal God’s value for our life. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son….” and John 14:2 “…I go to prepare a place for you….that where I am there you may be also.” No greater value can be seen than Jesus laying down His life for us and then preparing a place for us to be with Him for all eternity.
I would point out that when we are valued….
1 – It instills confidence ““Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8)
“…if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ” (Matthew 6:30)
2 – It builds our sense of trust “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11)
3 – It frees us to value others in open relationships “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them…” (Matthew 7:12) When we have security in our value, it enables us to value and serve others. I recall Dick Foth pointing out that before Jesus washed the disciples feet in the upper room that scripture states that, “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God…” (John 13:3) Jesus had a sense of security from who He was and where He was going and it released Him to fully serve others, even in His greatest hour of need. The same is true in our life. When we understand the value of our lives we are freed to love and serve others.
I recently caught part of a story about a Baylor University football player who was struggling in his role as a player and his view of himself. A pastor who was his mentor encourage him to remember that, “playing football is what I do, it is not who I am.” When our value is found in “whose we are” not what we do, it can radically change our life and free us to love and serve and value others.