There is no limit to the places we can find lessons for our
spiritual lives. Believe it or not, the inspiration for today’s lesson came
from THE PRICE IS RIGHT. The item up for bid was a diamond necklace. Contestants
were bidding between $750 and $1000. The “actual retail price” was $3025. I was
impressed not only by the value of the necklace but by how people undervalued
it. Diamonds are used in many industries including automotive and medicine
because they are excellent for cutting and polishing. However they have value
apart from what they can do. Ultimately, the value of something is based on
what someone is willing to pay for it.
I realized as I thought about this that the same is true
for us as Christians. I admit that have received my value based on performance
and what I could do for God or others. Growing up, that was how I got
validation. In school, church and often at home, that was how I got attention
and approval. I accomplished things and I succeeded. I have shared before that
I loved the gold stars and happy faces on papers and Sunday school charts. I
did not learn about grace until much later and it was actually a difficult
concept for me. My acceptance and God’s love for me was outside of anything I
did or could do. It was because God chose to pay the price for my redemption. I
had value to Him outside or what I could do or accomplish.
Isaiah 43:4 has become one of my life verses. “Since you are precious in my sight, since you are honored and I love you, I will give other people in your place and other nations in exchange for your life.
Look at John 15:16.
Jesus tells his disciples, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and
appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should
abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”
In
the beautiful passage in Romans 8, Paul tells us …31What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is
for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things?
I
am by no means saying not to do things to glorify God or to help his people. I
am merely saying that our value is not defined by what we accomplish but in
what he was willing to do for us. The world and even people we love will
sometimes undervalue us, like the diamond necklace. God gave up his most
precious possession to purchase us. May we stand in that value this week.A
