What are you worth to God?

                Have you ever been in a relationship (not necessarily a romantic one), where you questioned what you were worth to them? How about an explicitly abusive relationship, where you were demeaned verbally or emotionally; or even physically abused? These situations, and I’m sure an infinite amount of others, illustrate toxic relationships where someone has questioned their value as a party in that relationship or even as a person in general. In some cases people will turn to God and ask, why me? Why do you value me so little? I would like to explore what exactly each and every individual on this earth is worth to the all mighty creator of everything that is, was, or ever will be.

                So we have God, who I am assuming that anyone reading this will at minimum, accept Him as the creator of us as humans for the sake of this discussion. We have a plethora of verses in scripture that can describe the plans that He has for us.  We can look at the book of Matthew and see that as long as we are trusting in God’s plan for us. “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 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? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” (Matthew 6:25-34) We can also look at the book of Psalms to hear of the poetry of the psalmist. “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. (Psalm 139:13-16)”

Now I know what you are thinking, “what about when it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows and I am still trusting in God?” We can look at the promise God made to Israel in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” So God has a plan, even when we can’t see it. Trust me, I doubt the Israelites were in the mood to give hope a chance, as at this point the Babylonians were surrounding them and about to haul them off into slavery. So keep in mind that our current situation is only the tiniest of pixels on the masterpiece that is eternity. God is with us in the midst of our troubles, even as He is with us in the good times.

So what are we worth to God? At minimum, the all mighty cares enough about us tiny humans. At most, that the Father gave his one and only Son, that we may be enter into relationship with Him. Let that sink in for a moment. We are worth so much to God, that he sent his son, Jesus, that we would be able to come back to him from our sin! We left, and God sacrificed of himself that we could come back to Him. If you are ever questioning your worth. I would hope that you keep in mind that God thinks the world of you and more, and that is worth more that the opinion of any other person or group. May God bless you and have a good rest of your day.