I read an article that asked the question, “What is more valuable in your life, more than money”? Here is the list: Your Health. Treat your body with the respect it deserves. … Your Friends. Spending time with friends is key to our emotional wellbeing. … Gratitude. Appreciate the miracle of life. … Your Reputation. … Your Family. … Your Education. … Giving To Others. … Life Experiences. There are a host of options and answers to this question. Yours may differ greatly. Peter Pertocci wrote “No man knows what he is living for until he knows what he’ll die for.” Certainly this would only be for what we value most. Our freedom, our family, but what about our faith? The Apostle Paul wrote “For to me to live is Christ”, Philippians 1:21. He wrote to the church at Corinth “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” II Corinthians 4:18. Something happened to this religious man, something that changed what he valued immensely. Before he became a Christian, he persecuted the church and the followers of Christ. After his conversion, he loved the Lord and served Him. Listen to his testimony in Philippians 3:7-8. “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.” “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,” His values changed!
“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Luke 12:34. Think of the treasure that a person finds when they accept Jesus as their Savior. II Peter 1:1, “precious faith”. II Peter 1:4, “precious promises”. Psalm 126:6, “precious seed” (the Word of God). I Peter 1:19, “precious blood of Christ”. I Peter 2:7, “Unto you therefore which believe he is precious.” Something that is precious is something that is valuable. Our values change.
But God may not be valuable to you today, but you are valuable to Him. There are those that would cause you to think you are of no value to the Lord…that God is cruel and critical, but God loves you more than you can comprehend. Psalm 139:17, “How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!” “We love him, because he fist loved us.” I John 4:19. Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” God wants everyone to have eternal life by accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior. God wants everyone to experience abundant life by following Jesus. God loves you.
Erwin Lutzer writes, “I was preaching in the Midwest one day, when a woman came to me with a little girl at her side. This woman showed by the cast on her arm and some scars on the side of her face that she had been in the hospital. She said, “I was in the hospital because of a very serious fire. There were burns over two-thirds of my body. My husband walked into the hospital room, took one look at me, and said, “You’re not the woman I married.” “He left her to marry someone younger and more beautiful. Human love says, “As long as you stimulate me, as long as I can be proud of you, as long as you’re beautiful, I can love you. If you change, my love for you changes.” Not so with God! He loves us with an everlasting love. May you find and experience the value of God’s love for you and your love for Him.