People Are Precious

JOHN 3:16 For God had such love for the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever has faith in him may not come to destruction but have eternal life.

We may be too familiar with John 3:16 for its message to impact us as it should. When it says that God loves the world, it means the people of the world. God loves people -- even the sinners. ALL the people of the world are loved by God. (That does not mean He approves of their behavior. But God loves them.)

People are created in the image of God. We are like God, His children. (You must receive Jesus to be a true child of God, but originally mankind was created in God's image, as His children.) Children are precious to their parents. No matter how many children a parent has, every child is precious to them. They are all loved. So it is with God, who obviously has a huge capacity for love. A parent may have a child who is a criminal, but that parent, if they are a good parent, will still care for their son or daughter and desire good for them. God is no less loving and caring. He desires good for us -- every one.

When we deal with people who are acting terrible, it can be difficult to remember they are precious to God. LUKE 6:35-36 NLT 35 "Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. 36

You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate. People will last for eternity. People will live with God and give Him pleasure in the ages to come. Let's stay focused on what is really precious and worthwhile. Material possessions are nice and have their place, but are nothing compared to the worth of a human being -- even if that human being is not perfected yet. Even with rough edges, people are valuable. You are precious to God! So is everyone else.

SAY THIS: Every person is precious to God.

Comments

join the community of Faith

Acts 2:42-47 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit of God blew into the hearts and lives of common, ordinary followers of Jesus and the church was born. On that first day, Peter stood up and preached a very basic message pointing people to Jesus. He called them to repent and be baptized. On that day, about three thousand people came to faith! So what do you do with three thousand new...

You Have The Victory!

Romans 8:37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. If God’s Word says that we are more than conquerors through Christ, then we are. We are not going to become, we already are. We may be experiencing some failures or setbacks in life right now, but only good will come out of our situations because God says that “in all these things we are more than conquerors”. We have the victory! You see, God has placed us in Christ, whom He has exalted to the highest place in the universe. We are not trying to get to victory ground. We are already on victory ground. We don’t confess God’s Word to get victory. We confess His Word because we already have the victory. We don’t fight for victory. We fight from victory. The devil will try to steal our victory. He will come against us with lies and fears, and cause us to be conscious of our failures, weaknesses and symptoms in areas such as our health. But we are not trying to be healed...

The God to Whom We Pray

Nehemiah 1:1-11 Nehemiah demonstrates power in prayer. As a servant to King Artaxerxes of Persia, he had no right to request leave to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls, much less to requisition materials and protection. Yet knowing the nature of the God he served, Nehemiah did not hesitate to act boldly and ask the king for what was needed. His prayer began, “I beseech You, O lord God of heaven” (Neh. 1:5). Lord, when it appears in all capital letters, denotes the word Jehovah (a form of Yahweh, the Hebrew name for God). It means “God who is eternal in His being”—conveying that everything everywhere is in His presence. So, when God makes a promise, He knows how He will keep it. That is why Nehemiah called Him “the awesome God who preserves the covenant.” He knew God was committed to bringing repentant Israelites back to their homeland to dwell in His presence (Neh. 1:9). Another Hebrew name used to refer to God, Elohim, is translated “He who is absolutely sovereign.” If He...

THE WATERFALL OF GRACE

Search This Blog