God has made clear our inestimable value to Him.
He sent us His only Begotten Son, so that we could know the Father through Him, and could have a way out of being eternally separated from Him Who so loved us. Click To Tweet
There’s a hardware store all over the USA called “True Value”. The idea is that the merchandise you purchase in this store will truly be worth the price you pay for it – i.e., the scales are balanced and you won’t be disappointed that you bought this item. Such transactions, albeit honest and equitable, are dwarfed by a much higher transaction that took place in Heaven in Eternity Past amongst the Trinity. This involved an infinitely more noble, more just, more honest Provider, and an incalculable price that He paid as the Purchaser of something He deemed of unmeasurable value – us. The Father desired an eternal family and longed for relationship with those He had created in His image. Therefore, He gave us, He sent to us, His only Begotten Son, so that we could know the Father through Him, and could have a way out of being eternally separated from Him Who so loved us. What a price He paid! Yet He deemed us so valuable to Himself that He – and the Son and the Spirit – willingly gave up Heaven’s Best to redeem us. This Love, this decision and event, are the basis of our true value, value that has nothing to do with anything we have done or could do. And when we grasp this truth, we are motivated by His Love for us to choose those things, those priorities, which are pleasing to Him.
The Father values our worship and praise.
As citizens of Heaven while on the earth, we take up precisely what Lucifer threw down and use it as a powerful weapon against him: worship and praise. Click To Tweet
Once we are born again and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we can actually touch and impact the Trinity. For example, we can bring immeasurable pleasure to God by simply choosing to live by Faith (Heb.11:6). We can daily be His delight by asking for Wisdom from Above and walking in it (Prov.8:30; James 1:5; 3:17). Also, our worship in spirit and in Truth ministers greatly to the Father (John 4:24). Pastor Ben recently spoke on how tender the Heart of our Father is, and perhaps His Heart was deeply grieved when Lucifer – Heaven’s worship leader at one time – sabotaged “the Harmony of Heaven”, throwing down in contempt and disdain for God the privilege of worship and praise. But now, as citizens of Heaven while on the earth, we take up precisely what Lucifer threw down and use it as a powerful weapon against him and his forces. In other words, the “Harmony of Heaven” was restored through the Finished Work, and now we worship and praise Him, blessing and encouraging His tender Heart!
The Son values us as His promised Bride, the Father’s gift to Him.
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As much as it might boggle our minds, we can ravish the Heart of our Savior and give him courage, even with just one look from our eyes (Song of Solomon 4:9). Our Heavenly Bridegroom exclaims in chapter 2:14, “Let Me see your face, let Me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet and your face is lovely.” In fact, as we read in all of chapter 4, He is overwhelmed with our beauty! “O My love, how beautiful you are! There is no flaw in you!” (4:7) How He loves, values our attention! When we look away from all that would distract us from hearing Him and getting to know Him more intimately, looking unto Him with focus, faith and fervent love, and expressing our love for and adoration of Him out loud, this is of unimaginable value and pleasure to Him.
The Holy Spirit values our obedient faith responses to His promptings.
The Holy Spirit values our personal and corporate responses to His promptings. Click To Tweet
Something we might not think of often – if ever – is that we have the capacity and privilege to minister to the Holy Spirit. We gladden Him when we forgive others as we have been forgiven and when we refuse to let any “vain, empty, worthless communication come out of our mouth but only that which edifies, ministering Grace to the hearer.” (Eh.4:29-32). We honor Him by speaking the Truth in Love (Eph.4:15), instead of lying and thus insulting Him (Acts 5:1-9). We bless Him by co-laboring with Him, as He initiates to us, in intercession (Rom.8:26), and also by doing all we an to “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Eph.4:3) Thus we see that the Holy Spirit, like the Father and the Son, values our personal and corporate responses to His promptings.
“Bless the Lord, O my soul … ! “
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Psalm 103 begins and ends with David’ command to his soul; verse one continues with ” and all that is within me bless His Holy Name!” “Bless” means “to speak well of” (“eulogeo, in Greek), or “to speak good words about”. Imagine, then: if we store the Word of God in our hearts, then out of that abundance our mouths can speak those words (Matt.12:34), as we are anointed and led by the Holy Spirit, and the Godhead is blessed! This could happen through worship and praise, as mentioned above; it could be through fellowshipping around the Word, Nature, and faithfulness of God; it could be through sharing the Gospel with the lost, through preaching from the pulpit or teaching Sunday School. There are many ways for us to actually touch and encourage the tender Heart of God by speaking well of Him. This makes us want to sing out as the psalmist did in Psalm 34:1 – “I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth!” And this One we so love to bless, loves to bless (eulogeo, “speak well of”) us!”
“Glorious things are spoken of you, O City of God … !”
The Trinity speaks well of us, God's redeemed ones, corporately and individually. Click To Tweet
The Trinity speaks well of us, God’s redeemed ones, corporately and individually. And even when we fail, His thoughts remain thoughts of peace and never of evil, and His Words to us are never with condemnation. Even in failure He speaks well of us because He sees us only in the Beloved Son, and the Son in us, and never deals with us according to our sins. Not one thought is ever in His Mind about us that is not a thought of peace; He knows us only in Love, in Christ, in the Finished Work, in full redemption, remembering our sins no more. To Him we are always altogether lovely with no spot in us, perfect in Christ since before the foundation of the world. Are we truly “persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from” this Great Love which so highly values us? It’s time to be thus persuaded, so that others can hear that they are likewise loved and can have everlasting Life.
Why so vital that we perceive our value?
There are many reasons why it is important to know our value to God, as well as to each other in the Body of Christ and to those without Him. It seems that a tragic and increasingly mentioned end to those who don’t understand their value to God, or to other people, is suicide. Before that choice is made by an individual there’s a whole spectrum of negative thoughts and emotions that can overwhelm him/her. BUT GOD! He has organized His redeemed ones into the Body of Christ – who believe their value in His eyes and Heart, and who have His Heart for the lost. We believe that one soul is more valuable than the whole world (Luke 15:7,10). We know that “in this was the Son of God made manifest that He might destroy the works of the devil (I John 3:8); and we are the means by which the Son is made manifest now on the earth. We agree with Romans 10:14 – How will those without Him “believe in Him of Whom they have not heard?” , and we are willing to be sent to tell them. Finally, we are confident that we have an anointing from the “Lord of the harvest” which will facilitate our obedience to His call to go and win the lost. Indeed, by the power and filling of His Holy Spirit in us, He will fulfill the very call He’s issued to us (I Thess.5:24).
There is no greater motivation to obey the Word of God than the Love of God.
When God's people get ahold of the unconditional Love of the Trinity for us, and when we perceive the unchanging value we have in Their eyes, then we are truly indomitable. Click To Tweet
Is it any wonder that the devil does all he can to try to persuade believers that the Lord doesn’t really love them – unless maybe they do everything just right! This lie puts so much pressure on God’s people to perform that they get frustrated, fearful, and feel defeated, their love for God and others waxing cooler and cooler, till no longer are they living by “a faith that works by Love” (II Cor.5:7). This is just what the adversary wants and strategizes to make happen. BUT! When God’s people get ahold of the unconditional Love of the Trinity for us, and when we perceive the unchanging value we have in Their eyes because of what the Lord Jesus Christ did on the Cross for us, never because of what we do, then we are truly indomitable. We will worship and praise Him as a way of life and thus bless Him; we will choose by Grace through faith to obey His Word and thus please Him; we will value each other and refuse to know each other according to the flesh; and we will see souls as Heaven sees them, one being more valuable than the whole world.
And we will say, “Here am I; send me.”
- Who is our Beloved? - March 4, 2023
- Do We Love Him More Than … ? - February 10, 2023
- ABUNDANCE! - January 11, 2023
