YOU MATTER TO GOD ...

When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” All the people saw this and began to mutter “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” (Luke 19 : 5 - 7)

Have you noticed that it was Jesus’ dinners with sinners that always got Him into trouble? He was forever getting into hot water with the religious people because He was always hanging out with the wrong crowd.

Can you imagine what bloggers today would say about Jesus having dinner with Zacchaeus, a corrupt politician? Guilt by association is one of the favourite tactics of today’s critics. Have you ever faced an accusation because of some of the people you’ve been seen socialising with? As Christians, our goal should be to build bridges between our hearts and the hearts of unbelievers, bridges of love that Jesus can use to reach them.

Jesus came to earth for the sick, the broken, and the insecure…. all those that the religious people wanted to ignore. He came to fill their deepest need with His deepest love. One of the deepest needs of any human being is to feel secure… valuable… accepted. As a result, we are forever evaluating and comparing, whether consciously or unconsciously. We often judge ourselves by the world’s four standards, that matter so very little….

APPEARANCE - How do we look? This says that the more beautiful we are, the more important and valuable we are.
AFFLUENCE - If we own a lot, then we must be worth a lot.
ACHIEVEMENT - Do we base our values on our awards, notoriety and promotions? APPROVAL - How many people like us? How popular are we?

The problem with this value system is that it’s not stable. Beauty fades with age, possessions wear out, someone else will surpass our successes, and not everyone will like us. Studies show that we tend to base our self-esteem on what we think the most important person in our life thinks about us. When Jesus Christ is the most important person in our lives, our self-esteem usually tends to be fairly healthy.

The only solid foundation for self-worth is to realise how much we matter to God. When we see ourselves the way our Heavenly Father sees us, it will transform us into secure people.

“There is no fear in love; perfect love drives out all fear.”
(1 John 4 :18)