You are... valuable

Value is now measured by two criteria, appearance and performance.

    Pretty tough system, isn't it? Where does that leave the retarded? Or the ugly or uneducated? Where does that place the aged or the handicapped? What hope does that offer the unborn child? Not much. Not much at all. We become nameless numbers on mislaid lists.

    Now please understand, this is man's system. It's not God's. His plan is much brighter. God, with eyes twinkling, steps up to the philosopher's blackboard, erases the never-ending, ever-repeating circle of history and replaces it with a line; a hopefilled, promising, slender line. And, looking over his shoulder to see if the class is watching, he draws an arrow at the end.

    In God's book man is heading somewhere. He has an amazing destiny. We are being prepared to walk down the church aisle and become the bride of Jesus. We are going to live with him. Share the throne with him. Reign with him. We count. We are valuable. And what's more, our worth is built in! Our value is inborn.

    You see, if there was anything that Jesus wanted everyone to understand it was this: A person is worth something simply because he is a person. That is why he treated people like he did. Think about it. The girl caught making undercover thunder with someone she shouldn't - he forgave her. The untouchable leper who asked for cleansing - he touched him. And the blind welfare case that cluttered the roadside - he honored him. And the worn-out old windbag addicted to self-pity near the pool of Siloam - he healed him!

This extract was taken from Max Lucado's book, No Wonder They Call Him Savior.  It is the most beautiful book that draws you closer to Jesus.  At first you begin to see things a little differently and then suddenly the book draws you into another time and another place.   Suddenly you are with Jesus in His final hour.  It is powerful and has transformed my life as I consider the magnitude of what Jesus did on the cross.  It is so much more than a ticket to heaven, it is so much more than the forgiveness of our sins.  Suddenly I begin to realise how valuable I truly am and how much God has done to show me His love.