Do You Know How Valuable You Are?

Part 5: The Father’s Voice

“And behold, a voice from heaven said, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:17

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” 1 John 3:1

“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” Zephaniah 3:17

Before the Work

There’s a moment in the life of Jesus that gets overshadowed by everything that came after it — the miracles, the sermons, the cross, the resurrection. But I think it might be the most important moment of all. Because it’s the moment that set everything else in motion.

Jesus walked down to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. He hadn’t healed anyone yet. He hadn’t preached a single sermon. He hadn’t called a single disciple. He hadn’t turned water into wine or fed five thousand or raised the dead. He hadn’t done ANYTHING yet. And as He came up out of the water, heaven opened, and the Father spoke: “And behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased'” (Matthew 3:17).

BEFORE the work came the identity. Before a single miracle, before a single step of ministry, the Father declared who Jesus was. Beloved. Son. Pleasing. Not because of what He’d accomplished. Because of WHO HE WAS. Let me tell you, that changes everything. The world says you earn your identity through performance. God says your identity comes before performance. The world crowns you by what you’ve done. The Father speaks over you before you’ve done a thing. The world laid garments at Saul’s feet and called it authority. The Father spoke over Jesus at the Jordan and called it LOVE. Which crowning are you chasing?

Sons and Daughters

And if you think that was only for Jesus, you haven’t been reading your Bible closely enough. The Apostle John — the one who leaned against Jesus at the table, the one who called himself “the disciple whom Jesus loved” — wrote something so staggering that he practically begged his readers to stop and take it in: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (1 John 3:1).

See what kind of love. John is WAVING HIS ARMS. He’s saying, “Do you understand what I’m telling you? You’re not servants. You’re not employees. You’re not outsiders looking through a window. You are CHILDREN OF GOD.” And so we ARE. That’s not future tense. That’s not “someday you might be.” You ARE. Right now. Today. In the middle of your mess and your questions and your doubts — you are a child of God.

Paul told the church in Rome the same thing, and then took it even further: “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:15-17). HEIRS. Not guests. Not charity cases. Heirs. Everything that belongs to Christ belongs to YOU. Not because you earned a seat at the table. Because the Father adopted you and pulled out a chair with your name on it. And that word — Abba — that’s not formal language. That’s a child crawling into their father’s lap. That’s “Daddy.” The God who spoke the universe into existence invites you to call Him Daddy. HOW COOL IS THAT?!

A Chosen People

Peter — the sifted, restored, loudmouth-turned-rock Peter — wrote a letter late in his life to scattered believers who were being persecuted, marginalized, and made to feel like they didn’t belong anywhere. And he told them exactly who they were: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).

Let me tell you, the fact that PETER wrote those words makes them hit even harder. This is the man who was sifted like wheat. The man who denied Jesus three times. The man who failed as spectacularly as anyone in Scripture. And HE’S the one who writes “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood.” Peter isn’t writing theory. He’s writing from the other side of his own destruction and restoration. He KNOWS what it means to be called out of darkness, because he spent three days in the darkest night of his life — and Jesus came for him anyway.

The Voice That Matters

We’ve walked a long road through this series. We started with Jesus on a hillside, speaking blessings over broken people. We sat with David in Psalm 139 and learned we were knitted together before we drew our first breath. We hid in the cave called Refuge and watched God turn four hundred broken men into mighty warriors. We saw the stutterer, the runt, the sifted loudmouth, and the persecutor who stood over bloody garments — and we saw God choose every one of them.

And now we’re standing at the Jordan, watching heaven open, listening to the Father’s voice. And the question that’s been running underneath everything comes down to this: whose voice are you listening to? The voice that called you a bum? The voice that said you’d never amount to anything? The voice that measured your worth by what you produced or what you looked like or who approved of you? Or the voice of the Father — the one who spoke before you did a single thing, and said, “This is my beloved. I am well pleased.”

Because the Father says the same thing over you. Not because you’ve earned it. Because He decided it before you were born. Your value isn’t up for debate. It was settled at the cross and declared at the Jordan and written in a book before time began.

He Sings Over You

I want to leave you with one more verse. And if you can receive this one, it will change the way you hear God’s voice for the rest of your life. The prophet Zephaniah wrote: “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing” (Zephaniah 3:17).

He REJOICES over you. He QUIETS you with His love. He SINGS over you. Let me tell you, I can barely get through that verse without weeping. The God of the universe — the one who spoke galaxies into existence, who parted seas and raised the dead — that God looks at you and SINGS. Not because you’ve performed well. Not because you’ve got it all figured out. Because you’re His. And His love for you makes Him sing.

Do you know how valuable you are? You are valuable enough to make God sing. That’s who you are. That’s whose you are. And no voice — past, present, or future — gets to tell you otherwise. Now go live like it.

* * *

A Moment Before You Go

Lord, I have listened to so many voices. Voices that told me I was nothing. Voices that told me I wasn’t enough. Voices that told me I had to earn my place at the table. Today, I’m choosing to listen to Yours. You say I’m Your child. You say I’m chosen. You say You sing over me. Help me hear Your voice above all the others. Help me live like the person You say I am. In Jesus’ name, amen.

* * *

A.W. Tozer wrote, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” If the first thing that comes to mind is a distant judge keeping score, the enemy has been at your theology. God is a Father who sings over His children.

C.S. Lewis said, “The son of God became man to enable men to become sons of God.” That’s not a metaphor. That’s a job description. And the position has your name on it.

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Do You Know How Valuable You Are?

Part 4: The Foolish Things

“But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.” 1 Corinthians 1:27

“Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?” Exodus 4:11

God’s Résumé Pile

If God ran a hiring agency, He’d be out of business by Tuesday. I mean that as a compliment — to Him and to you. Because when you look at the people God chose throughout Scripture, there’s a pattern so consistent it can’t be an accident. He doesn’t pick the obvious candidate. He NEVER has. And once you see it, you can’t unsee it — and it changes the way you look at yourself forever.

The world picks the polished. The qualified. The impressive. The one with the best résumé and the firmest handshake. God picks the guy whose hands are shaking. Paul laid it out as plainly as anyone ever has: “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God” (1 Corinthians 1:27-29). Things that are NOT. Let that phrase land. God chooses the people the world says don’t even exist. The invisible ones. The ones nobody counts. God looks at the person the world walks past and says, “That one. That’s the one I’m going to use.”

The Stutterer

Moses. The man who stood before Pharaoh and demanded, “Let my people go.” The man who parted the Red Sea. The man who received the Ten Commandments directly from the hand of God. That man didn’t want the job. When God called him from the burning bush, Moses didn’t say, “I’m ready, Lord.” He said, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue” (Exodus 4:10). That’s not exactly a TED Talk application. “Tell us about your public speaking experience.” “Well, I talk to sheep. They seem fine with it.”

And God’s response? “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak” (Exodus 4:11-12). I MADE your mouth. Including the stutter. And I’m going to use it anyway. That’s God. He doesn’t call the equipped. He equips the called. Smith Wigglesworth said it best: “God does not call the qualified; He qualifies the called.” Moses couldn’t give a speech without tripping over his own tongue. And God used him to deliver an entire nation.

The Runt

David. We’ve spent time with him already in this series. But let’s go back to the beginning — before the cave, before Goliath, before any of it. The prophet Samuel came to Jesse’s house to anoint the next king of Israel. Jesse lined up his sons — tall, strong, impressive men. Samuel looked at the eldest and thought, “Surely this is the one.” And God said, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

One by one, seven sons passed. None of them. Samuel asked, “Are these all your sons?” And Jesse said — almost as an afterthought — “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep” (1 Samuel 16:11). He’s out back. With the sheep. Nobody thought to call him. NOBODY. His own father didn’t consider him worth presenting. And THAT was the one God chose. The runt. The afterthought. The boy his own family overlooked. Let me tell you, if God can take a kid nobody bothered to invite inside and make him the greatest king Israel ever had, He can do something with YOU.

The Loudmouth

Peter. Oh, Peter. If Moses was the reluctant leader, Peter was the opposite — he couldn’t keep his mouth shut to save his life. He was impulsive, brash, and had a habit of speaking before his brain caught up. He once walked on water and then immediately started sinking. That’s Peter in a nutshell — spectacular faith followed by spectacular failure, often in the same sentence.

But here’s something most people miss. Jesus told Peter something terrifying and beautiful all at once: “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31-32). Satan had to ASK PERMISSION. Just like he had to ask permission with Job. The enemy can’t just take you. He has to go through God first. And Jesus didn’t say, “Don’t worry, I won’t let it happen.” He said, “I’ve PRAYED for you.” He let Peter go through the sifting — the denial, the shame, the total collapse — but He prayed that Peter’s faith would survive it. And then the kicker: “When you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Not IF. WHEN. Jesus already knew Peter would fall and already knew Peter would come back. The sifting wasn’t the end. It was PREPARATION. Just like the cave was for David.

Peter denied Jesus three times. And Jesus restored him three times — with the same question, three times over: “Do you love me?” (John 21:15-17). And then He gave the loudmouth who had failed spectacularly the single most important job in the early church: “Feed my sheep.” That’s God’s hiring policy. HOW COOL IS THAT?!

The Persecutor

And then there’s Paul. Let me tell you, if you think YOUR past disqualifies you, wait until you hear about Saul of Tarsus. This man didn’t just reject Jesus — he hunted down and killed the people who followed Him. He stood over the garments of Stephen as they stoned him to death (Acts 7:58). Think about that image. The coats of the executioners, piled at a young man’s feet, while an innocent man dies. That’s self-righteous authority at its worst — presiding over death, clothed in the garments of human power.

And THIS was the man God chose to write half the New Testament. This was the man who would later write, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Paul knew what “while we were still sinners” meant because he had been the WORST of them — and he said so himself (1 Timothy 1:15). A persecutor who stood over bloody garments and then spent the rest of his life laying down his own life for Christ. If God can turn THAT around, He can turn anything around.

Do You See the Pattern?

The stutterer. The runt. The loudmouth who was sifted like wheat. The persecutor who stood over bloody garments. None of them qualified by the world’s standards. EVERY one of them qualified by God’s. Because God’s hiring policy has never changed: He doesn’t pick the impressive. He picks the available. He picks the broken who are willing to be rebuilt. He picks the foolish things to shame the wise.

Do you know how valuable you are? You’re valuable enough that the God who chose a stutterer, a runt, a sifted loudmouth, and a murderer is looking at YOU right now and saying, “That one. That’s the one I’m going to use.” Your weakness isn’t a disqualification. It’s your APPLICATION.

* * *

A Moment Before You Go

Lord, I’ve spent my whole life thinking I don’t have what it takes. Today I’m starting to see that You’ve never been looking for what the world looks for. You chose the foolish. You chose the weak. You chose the overlooked. And You’re choosing me. Not because of what I can do, but because of what You can do through me. Use me. In Jesus’ name, amen.

* * *

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “God does not love some ideal person, but rather human beings just as we are, not some ideal world, but rather the real world.” God doesn’t want the version of you that you’ve polished for public consumption. He wants the real one. The stuttering, sinking, failing, broken one. THAT’S the one He chose.

Smith Wigglesworth said, “God does not call the qualified; He qualifies the called.” Your disqualification is His invitation. Stop waiting to be ready. He’s already chosen you.

* * *

Next: Do You Know How Valuable You Are? — Part 5: The Father’s Voice

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Do You Know How Valuable You Are?

Part 3: The Cave

“David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam.” 1 Samuel 22:1

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Psalm 91:1-2

The Darkest Room

There’s a moment in David’s life that most people skip past on their way to the giant-slaying and the throne and the golden years. But I think it might be the most important moment of all. David is in a cave. Not by choice. Not on a camping trip. He’s HIDING. Running for his life. Saul — the king of Israel, the man David had served faithfully, the man whose son was David’s closest friend — wanted him dead. Not for anything David had done wrong. But because God’s hand was on David, and Saul could feel his own grip slipping.

So David ran. Into the wilderness. Into the hills. Into the dark. “David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam” (1 Samuel 22:1). The cave of Adullam. That’s where the future king of Israel ended up. Not on a throne. In a hole in the ground. Not exactly the palace brochure. Alone, afraid, and with absolutely nothing left to rely on but God. And that’s EXACTLY where God wanted him.

The Name on the Door

Here’s something that stopped me when I found it. The name Adullam has meaning in Hebrew — and it has two possible meanings, depending on which root scholars trace it to. The first meaning is “REFUGE.” The second meaning is “JUSTICE OF THE PEOPLE.”

Let that hit you. David didn’t stumble into a random cave. He fled to a place called REFUGE. The God who names the stars and knows the hairs on your head also named the place where He would hide His anointed king. Before David was ever born, before Saul ever threw a spear, God had already prepared a refuge and put a name on it. HOW COOL IS THAT?! And “Justice of the People”? David was running from injustice — a king who wanted to kill the very man God had chosen to replace him. And God brought David to a place whose name declared what God was already working out behind the scenes. Justice was coming. Not on David’s timetable. On GOD’S. God doesn’t do random. He never has.

The Ones Nobody Wanted

But David didn’t stay alone in that cave for long. Look at who showed up: “And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became commander over them. And there were about four hundred men with him” (1 Samuel 22:2). Read that list. The distressed. The indebted. The bitter in soul. These weren’t warriors. These weren’t the elite. These were the people NOBODY wanted. The overlooked. The broken. The ones the system had chewed up and spit out.

And where did they go? They went to the REFUGE. Does that sound familiar? It should. That’s the whole message of this series. God doesn’t recruit from the top of the class. He calls the bums. The losers. The ones the world wrote off. And He gathers them to Himself in a place of refuge — and then He does something NOBODY expected. He builds an ARMY out of them. Those four hundred broken men who crawled into that cave became David’s mighty men. The greatest warriors Israel ever produced. They didn’t become mighty because they were impressive when they showed up. They became mighty because they were gathered to the right leader, in the right place, at the right time. God took what the world threw away and turned it into something GLORIOUS. Let me tell you, the cave of Adullam is basically “I Am Not a Bum” in the Old Testament.

He Hid You There

Here’s the part most people miss: David didn’t choose the cave. GOD put him there. Not to destroy him. To PROTECT him. To hide him until the time was right. To teach him that God’s protection doesn’t always look like victory on the battlefield. Sometimes it looks like a dark room where nobody can find you — except the One who matters. And He named the room before you got there. Refuge. He prepared your hiding place before you ever needed it. Just like He wrote your days in His book before you lived one of them.

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust'” (Psalm 91:1-2). “For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock” (Psalm 27:5). He will HIDE you. He will CONCEAL you. He will LIFT you up. That’s not passive language. That’s God actively stepping in and saying, “This one is mine, and I will protect what is mine.” Because that’s what you do with something valuable. You don’t leave it out in the open where anyone can damage it. You protect it. You guard it. You hide it until the right moment. And THEN you bring it into the light.

Out of the Cave

David didn’t stay in the cave forever. God brought him out. And He didn’t bring him out alone — He brought out those four hundred broken men too. The distressed, the indebted, the bitter in soul. They went into the Refuge as rejects. They came out as WARRIORS. God brought David through the wilderness, through the running, through the years of waiting — and eventually set him on the throne of Israel. Not because David fought his way there, but because God’s timing and God’s righteousness carried him there.

And when David looked back on all of it — the caves, the valleys, the close calls, the long nights — he didn’t curse those seasons. He PRAISED God for them. “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold” (Psalm 18:2). My rock. My fortress. My deliverer. My shield. My stronghold. Every one of those words was forged in the cave. David didn’t learn God’s protection from a textbook. He learned it from experience. From the darkest room he ever sat in.

Valuable Enough to Protect

Here’s where it all comes together. If you’re fearfully and wonderfully made — and you ARE — then you’re worth protecting. If God wrote your days in His book before you lived one of them, then He’s not going to let them be stolen by the enemy or cut short by circumstances. Your value and His protection are two sides of the same coin. You can’t have one without the other. A God who would send His Son to die for you is NOT a God who would abandon you in a cave.

The cave isn’t punishment. It’s preparation. It’s God saying, “Let go of your own strength, and discover mine. Stop trusting your own righteousness, and lean into mine. I’ve got you. I’ve ALWAYS had you.” And if you feel like nobody wants you right now — like you’re distressed or in debt or bitter in soul — then you’re in good company. Those are EXACTLY the people God gathered to the Refuge. Those are exactly the people He turned into mighty men and women.

“Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). Be still. Stop striving. Stop running in your own strength. Be still and KNOW. Know that He is God. Know that He formed you. Know that He values you. Know that He will protect you — even in the cave. ESPECIALLY in the cave. Do you know how valuable you are? Valuable enough that the God of the universe named your refuge before you were born, and gathered the broken there to make them mighty.

* * *

A Moment Before You Go

Lord, I’m in the cave. I don’t understand why I’m here, but I’m choosing to trust that You do. You named this place Refuge before I arrived. You’re protecting what You made. Help me be still. Help me let go. And when the time is right, bring me out — not the same person who went in, but mighty. In Jesus’ name, amen.

* * *

Charles Spurgeon wrote, “God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart.” The cave is dark. But His heart is good. And He already named the place where He’s keeping you. Refuge.

A.W. Tozer said, “God never hurries. There are no deadlines against which He must work.” The cave has no clock on the wall. But it has a God in the room. And He’s not in a rush — He’s in control.

* * *

Next: Do You Know How Valuable You Are? — Part 4: The Foolish Things

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Do You Know How Valuable You Are?

Part 2: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Psalm 139:13-14

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.” Jeremiah 1:5

Before You Took a Breath

I want to take you somewhere quiet for a minute. Away from the noise. Away from the opinions. Away from every voice that ever told you what you were or weren’t worth. I want to take you back to before you were born. Not to your childhood. Not to the hospital. Before ALL of it. Before your first breath, your first cry, your first heartbeat. Back to when you were just a thought in the mind of God.

Because that’s where your value started. Not in what you’ve done. Not in what people think of you. Not in your résumé or your failures or your bank account. It started in the heart of a God who decided — before anything else existed — that you were worth making. David wrote about this. And what he wrote should change the way you see yourself for the rest of your life.

The Psalm That Changes Everything

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it well” (Psalm 139:13-14). Let those words LAND.

You were FORMED. Not randomly assembled. Not tossed together by accident. Formed. The Hebrew word there suggests careful, deliberate craftsmanship — like a potter with his hands deep in the clay, shaping every curve with intention. And KNITTED TOGETHER. That’s tender language. That’s a grandmother with yarn in her lap, every stitch purposeful, every row planned. That’s how God made you. Stitch by stitch. Detail by detail. Nothing overlooked. Nothing wasted.

Fearfully and wonderfully made. Not adequately made. Not barely made. FEARFULLY — with awe. WONDERFULLY — with marvel. God looked at what He was creating in you, and it inspired wonder. In HIM. Let me tell you, you inspire wonder in God. Let that sit for a minute before you argue with it.

The Book

David doesn’t stop there. He goes further, and it gets even more personal: “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them” (Psalm 139:16).

God has a book. And your days are in it. Not in pencil. Not as a rough draft. WRITTEN. Before you lived a single one of them, God saw them all. He saw your best days and your worst days. He saw the days you’d feel on top of the world and the days you’d barely get out of bed. He saw every scar, every setback, every stumble. And He STILL wrote you into the story.

That means the day someone called you worthless — God already knew about it. And He didn’t cross your name out of the book. The day you failed so badly you wanted to disappear — He’d already seen it. And He still said, “This one is MINE.” The prophet Jeremiah heard God say something that echoes this same truth: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you” (Jeremiah 1:5). BEFORE. That word keeps showing up. Before you could do anything to earn it or ruin it, God already knew you. Already chose you. Already set you apart. Your value was established before you drew your first breath. Which means NOTHING that has happened since can take it away.

The Voices That Lied

But someone told you different, didn’t they? Maybe it was a parent who should have protected you but tore you down instead. Maybe it was a coach, a teacher, a kid on the playground, a stranger on the internet. Maybe it was a whole system — a culture that measured your worth by what you produced, what you looked like, or what you could offer. And after you hear those voices long enough, they don’t sound like lies anymore. They sound like truth. They move from your ears to your bones, and you start to live as if they’re right.

But let me tell you something. Those voices didn’t make you. They don’t get to define you. The One who KNITTED you together gets that right. And He’s already spoken. He said FEARFULLY. He said WONDERFULLY. He said He knew you BEFORE. He wrote your days in His book. And He paid for you with the blood of His only Son — “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). WHILE WE WERE STILL SINNERS. Not after we got our act together. Not after we earned it. While. In the middle of the mess. That’s when He came. That’s what you’re WORTH.

Your Soul Knows It Well

Go back to David’s psalm for a moment. After he says, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made,” he adds something quiet and important: “Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it well.” My soul KNOWS it well. David isn’t just stating a fact. He’s saying his soul has SETTLED into this truth. It’s not just head knowledge. It’s not a bumper sticker. It’s something deep — deeper than the lies, deeper than the wounds, deeper than the voices.

And that’s where I want you to get to. Not just knowing in your mind that God made you with purpose. But knowing it in your SOUL. Letting it sink past the scar tissue and into the bedrock of who you are. You are fearfully made. You are wonderfully made. God wrote your days in His book before you lived a single one. He knows your name. He numbered the hairs on your head. And He paid for you with the blood of His only Son.

Do you know how valuable you are? You’re starting to. And the more you drink from the right river, the deeper that knowing will go.

* * *

A Moment Before You Go

Lord, I’ve let other voices tell me what I’m worth for too long. Today I’m choosing to believe the One who made me. You say I’m fearfully and wonderfully made. You wrote my days in Your book. You knew me before I was born. Help me live like someone who believes that. In Jesus’ name, amen.

* * *

A.W. Tozer wrote, “God formed us for His pleasure, and so formed us that we, as well as He, can in divine communion enjoy the sweet and mysterious mingling of kindred personalities.” You weren’t made to be tolerated by God. You were made to be enjoyed by Him.

Max Lucado wrote, “You are valuable just because you exist. Not because of what you do or what you have done, but simply because you are.” That’s not wishful thinking. That’s the Gospel. God proved it on a cross.

* * *

Next: Do You Know How Valuable You Are? — Part 3: The Cave

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Do You Know How Valuable You Are?

Part 1: Blessed

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3

“But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.” 1 Corinthians 1:27

The Hillside

Picture this. A hillside in Galilee. No stage. No microphone. No production team. No fog machines. Just a man sitting down on the grass with a crowd of people who had followed Him there — not because He was famous, but because something about Him felt like HOPE.

These weren’t important people. Not by the world’s standards. They were fishermen and farmers. Tax collectors and widows. People with bad backs and bad reputations. People who had been told their whole lives — by the religious leaders, by the culture, by the voices in their own heads — that they weren’t enough. And Jesus opened His mouth and said something that turned the whole world upside down. He didn’t start with a rule. He didn’t start with a rebuke. He started with a BLESSING.

Not Instructions — Declarations

Most people read the Beatitudes as a to-do list. Be meek. Be merciful. Be pure in heart. Like a spiritual self-improvement checklist you stick on the fridge next to the shopping list. But that is NOT what Jesus was doing on that hillside. Let me tell you, He wasn’t handing out homework. He was making DECLARATIONS. He was looking at broken people and telling them who they ALREADY WERE.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). He didn’t say, “Blessed are the people who’ve got it together.” He said blessed are the POOR in spirit. The ones who’ve hit the bottom. The ones who’ve got nothing left. The ones who couldn’t climb the religious ladder if you gave them a boost. THEIRS is the kingdom of heaven. Not might be. Not could be. IS. Right now. HOW COOL IS THAT?! The whole religious world is trying to climb the ladder, and Jesus is at the bottom saying, “The door’s down here, mate.”

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). You’ve been mourning. You’ve carried grief that nobody around you could see — the kind you wear on the inside like a lead vest. Jesus doesn’t say “get over it.” He doesn’t say “chin up.” He says you’re BLESSED in the middle of it. And comfort is coming — not the bumper-sticker kind, but the kind that only God can give.

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). Not the aggressive. Not the loudest voice in the room. The MEEK. The ones who got pushed to the bottom and stayed gentle. Jesus says the whole earth belongs to them. The scoreboard is rigged, friend, and it’s rigged in YOUR favour.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6). That restlessness you feel? That ache for something real? That’s not a problem. That’s a QUALIFICATION. It means you’re being drawn to the right river.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy” (Matthew 5:7). You’ve been hurt, and you still chose not to become the thing that hurt you. That’s not weakness. That’s divine strength.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). Not the perfect in behaviour. The pure in HEART. The ones who want God more than they want to look good for other people.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). Not peacekeepers — people who smooth things over to avoid conflict. PEACEMAKERS. People who bring God’s shalom into broken situations. And they’re called sons and daughters of God. That’s not a job title. That’s an IDENTITY.

And here’s the one nobody wants to claim. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10). If you’re walking the narrow river, some people aren’t going to like it. Some will mock you. Some will cut you off. But Jesus says even THAT is a blessing. Because persecution for His sake means you’re on the right path. And the kingdom? It’s already yours.

He Was Talking to You

Here’s what I need you to understand. Jesus wasn’t giving a theology lecture on that hillside. He was looking at broken, tired, overlooked people — people who had been told they didn’t MATTER — and He was telling them who they really were. You are blessed. Not because of what you’ve done. Not because of what you’ve accomplished. Not because someone finally gave you permission. You are blessed because the God of the universe looked at you and SAID SO.

Paul wrote it this way: “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God” (1 Corinthians 1:27-29). He chose YOU. Not the polished. Not the powerful. You.

Do you know how valuable you are? You are valuable enough that the Son of God sat down on a hillside, looked at people just like you, and spoke blessings over their lives before they’d done a SINGLE thing to earn it. That’s who you are. That’s whose you are. And no voice — past, present, or future — gets to tell you otherwise.

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A Moment Before You Go

Lord, I’ve spent so long listening to the wrong voices that I forgot to listen to Yours. You say I’m blessed. You say I’m chosen. You say the kingdom is mine — not because I earned it, but because You gave it. Help me believe it. Not just in my head, but in my bones. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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A.W. Tozer wrote, “The widest thing in the universe is not space; it is the potential capacity of the human heart.” God made your heart with a capacity only He can fill. The blessings He spoke on that hillside were designed to fill it.

C.S. Lewis said, “The weight of glory is so great that only humility can carry it.” The poor in spirit, the meek, the mourning — they’re the only ones humble enough to carry what God is giving.

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Next: Do You Know How Valuable You Are? — Part 2: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

 Always i-CH