March 20, 2011

"Aren't two sparrows sold for only a penny? But not one of them falls to the ground without your Father knowing it. He even counts every hair on your head! So don't be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows."  Matthew 10:29-31

"Aren't five sparrows sold for two pennies? But God does not forget even one of them. In fact, he even counts every hair on your head! So don't be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows." Luke 12:6-7

Unless you are out for an early morning walk, you probably don't notice the birds very much. When you get engrossed in your daily routine you are preoccupied with far more important issues. Though you drive by scores of robins, cardinals, blue jays, and sparrows without a second thought. In the priorities of your daily agenda birds just don't matter much. Perhaps if you see an eagle soaring high above or a turkey vulture along the side of the roadway it might merit some momentary attention. But face it, birds are not a significant part of your day.

But, Someone DOES notice and Someone cares. Even the small and most insignificant of the birds, the sparrow, warrants the fill attention of God. When the wind blows a sparrows nest from the swaying tree branches carrying the hatchlings to their death, God notices and He cares. Hundreds of sparrows die every day unbeknownst  to you or me, but not to Him. Not a single bird perishes without the Father knowing and caring.

How do you know that? Because Jesus says so! Why should you care what God thinks about sparrows? They are not worth much to us. Way back in Jesus' time two sparrows could be purchased for a penny. So worthless are sparrows that if you laid down two pennies the merchant would throw in a free one - five sparrows for two cents.

If a sparrow had feelings imagine how insignificant it might feel knowing it is valued at half of a cent. Or, think about how that fifth sparrow would feel knowing he was thrown in for free! How insignificant is that?

But that's the point! God cares intimately about the welfare of a worthless little sparrow. Everyone matters to Him! During the course of a busy day when you don't notice He does! As you forget all of them, He notices everyone! They are significant to Him!

Again, why should that matter to you? Here's why - if God cares that much about a sparrow that was thrown into to sweeten the deal, now much more does He care about you? If a freebie sparrow matters to God, how significant are you?

Perhaps you have struggled with feelings of insignificance. Maybe you have been haunted with fears that you don't really matter and your life is a waste. Perhaps you have felt like that  fifth sparrow most of your life. Jesus wants you to know how much you matter to God. That is why He told the story! That is why He said you should not fear!

Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,

Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heav’n and home,

When Jesus is my portion? My constant Friend is He:

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

“Let not your heart be troubled,” His tender word I hear,

And resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears;

Though by the path He leadeth, but one step I may see;

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

 

Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise,

When songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies,

I draw the closer to Him, from care He sets me free;

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

Refrain: I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free,

For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

 

March 19, 2011

"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."  I Peter 2:9

 

Long Summer days in Claypool, Indiana, were spent playing sandlot baseball. We had a vacant lot just west of town that had was surrounded on two sides by a fence. That became our ballpark and if it was a week day it was game day!

 

The fence surrounding the lot was our home run fence and we keep meticulous statistics over the entire Summer - the number of home runs we hit, the number of runs batted in, doubles, triples, and batting average. We were legends in our own minds!

 

After a few Summers when we grew big enough that the fence was too reachable, we all started batting left-handed to put some challenge back into hitting homers. By the time we mastered the left side of the plate, some inconsiderate person bought the lot and built a house on it! Sometimes progress stinks!

 

Game day began about mid-morning as we gathered with gloves and bats and baseballs in tow. The dramatic moment was when we would choose sides. It would be the two biggest, oldest and best players as captains charged with picking among the rest of us also rans to determine the teams. As other guys were picked and I wasn't, my sense of significance suffered. I was never the last guy picked but neither was I the first. Being wired the way I am, the lower I was chosen the more motivated I became to prove I mattered. But that simple childhood act of choosing up sides for sandlot ballgames was a raw and revealing way of exposing who really mattered and who didn't. Your significance in the "pack" was on display! There was no place to hide.

 

God built into you and me a strong need for significance. We want to matter. We need to know our lives make a difference. Therefore, who we chose to determine our sense of significance is a game-changer. In a perfect world, that is one the primary roles of parents to build significance and security into the psyche of their children. When you matter to mon and dad, you don't care as much where you get chosen in the line up.

 

Even more important than the significance given you by your parents is realizing how much you matter to God. Ultimately, your significance will rise or fall on understanding your value to Him. And, there is good news! The Bible says that He chose you first! You are a first-round draft choice in His opinion! You are so significant to Him that He traded His Son's life for yours!

 

Are you struggling with the fear of not mattering? Do you live with the insecurity of feeling insignificant? Have you allowed the wrong people to decide your worth?

 

Get your heart and mind around this - "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."  I Peter 2:9

You matter! He says so! Let His opinion matter most to you! Let Him matter more than anyone or anything else and feel the fear of insignificance melt away.

March 18, 2011

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."   I John 4:10

One way the need for significance manifests itself in 2011 is the phenomenon known as "social networking". Millions are texting or tweeting or posting on Facebook. Essentially, they are saying, "Notice me!" or "Let me know I matter!" or "Make me feel significant!"

The more friends you have or the more tweets you get the more accepted you feel. you want to be known and know you matter. I contend that the wild popularity of these social networks is fueled by the fear of not mattering.

I am sure God is beyond fear, BUT if He would have a fear I believe it would be the fear that He would not matter to us. He needs for you to recognize His significance. It is in your best interest as well as His.

So, God texted you! Yes, He did! He sent His Commandments through His servant, Moses! He made it clear what matters to Him. He showed you what should matter to you!

Next, God tweeted us! Through His Prophets and His Patriarchs He inspired the great Scriptures of the Old Testament to let us know what He was doing and what He was planning to do in the future. He did not want you to miss what He was doing in our behalf.

Finally, He posted on Facebook! Yes, He did! He sent His Son, Jesus - the God-man - to allow you to get a look at His profile. He wanted us to know what He looks like and what He loves. By posting His picture in the portrait of Jesus, God revealed His nature and His heart. He wanted to know you and to be known by you!

One way you can know you are significant to God is to understand through Scripture just how badly He wants to matter to you! He is the One Who created you and is the only One Who can recreate you into His image!

When you decide to let God know how much He matters to you, then you will begin to understand how much you matter to Him.

March 17, 2011

"...made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:5-10

Despite your best efforts, salvation cannot be earned. Thank God, it doesn't have to be!

Likewise, neither can you earn a healthy sense of self-worth. Granted, doing things that matter is certainly better than doing bad things or doing nothing. But here is why it doesn't work. When you try to earn your salvation with good works you are never sure if you have done enough. Similarly, when you are trying to boost your sense of self-worth by doing good, how do you know if you have done enough? Do you depend on what others think of you? Do you compare yourself with someone who is doing less than you? Do you depend on titles earned or honors bestowed or educational level achieved or your financial status? How can you be sure that you matter enough?

The good news of salvation and of self-worth is the same - don't depend on what you can do, depend on what HE HAS DONE! It is His grace that saves you and it is His sacrifice that earned your forgiveness. Only His righteousness can make you right! Through His atoning death can you enter into a personal relationship with God and it is through your relationship with Him that you draw your value.

Grace means that you can enjoy what you haven't earned! Grace means you are elevated to right standing with God through what Christ did for you! You become a child of God and a joint heir with Christ! In other words, YOU MATTER!

Finding significance begins when you accept by faith what He has done for you! Once you have received His significance what you do matters! You are not saved BY good works but you are saved to DO good works.  In His grace you can begin extending that grace to others. You become more significant as you add significance to them.

It is what you do AFTER you accept what HE did that matters! It is what you do AFTER you receive His grace that makes you matter!

March 16, 2011

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."  John 3:16

We are heading into the yard sale season. If you haven't done a yard sale, you may not relate to this article but for the other 99.99% of us, you know that the hardest part is tagging all the items with a price. The first 1,000 items you tend to estimate a little high because you know the hard-core yard salers will haggle the price anyway. But, after several hours of assigning value to items you don't value enough to keep, you reach a point where you stop caring and just  start slapping price stickers on stuff.

Similarly, when the day of the sale comes you start the day with high hopes trying to hold the line against the bargain-hunters who show up seeking treasure among your trinkets. But as the day wears on and you still have piles of stuff, you come to the realization that your stuff is only worth what people are willing to pay for it. The thought of having to pick up all the remaining items and put them away somewhere causes you to begin throwing stuff into bags or boxes and selling them enmass for less than you sold stuff individually earlier in the day.

A day spent doing a yard sale may be the best education in economics that you could have. You learn that the ultimate value of something is determined by what someone is willing to pay for it.

As you struggle to find your own sense of significance and value, that same principle applies. You are worth what someone is willing to pay for you. So, be really careful who you allow to slap a price tag on you.

If you try to determine your own value or if you give that power to other people, you will spend your life bargaining and pleading and always feeling cheated or undervalued. You will find wild fluctuations in your value from day to day.

The way to know how much you are really worth is to understand the price that was paid for you! God bought you with the life blood of His own Son, Jesus. That means that He places equal value on you as He does His Son! That is the price tag He placed on you.

God thinks you matter! You are significant to Him! Why not accept His estimate? Why would you continue to under value yourself? Why sell yourself to the lowest bidder?

March 15, 2011

"Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself."  Matthew 22:37-39

Do you remember the first time you felt you really mattered?

If you want to feel like you matter, do something that matters. Jesus tells you what matters most to Him; loving God and loving others.

And, He tells you to love God in a significant way - with ALL your heart, and with your entire soul and with your whole mind. When you do that you will be able to experience His love and receiving His love makes you aware that you matter to Him.

Knowing that you matter to Him changes everything. It changes how you see God. You see Him as a Father and a friend. Having a Father like Him will make you feel like you matter. Knowing Him as a Friend adds significance to your life. Being valued by Him makes you feel valuable. He adds value to everything you do. His mercy and grace releases you from everything that devalued you in the past. The power of His presence dwelling with you gives strength to do things that matter each day. His promises give you hope for future that matters.

Once you find your significance in Him, you will see significance in others. You will treat them with significant kindness and goodness. His love will flow through you toward them. Adding significance to others reflects the love of God in you and adds value to your life.

You can have significance if you make God your Significant Other and love Him supremely.

You can have significance if you live in His love and love others with His significant love.

If you want to know how if feels to matter, do what matters to God.

March 14, 2011

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."  Ephesians 2:10

One of the fears that haunts you is the fear that you will live your life and no one will care. You and I have an inherent need to matter.

Do you matter? Does your life matter? Will anyone care that you showed up on planet earth? Will you leave a thumb print on time? How will eternity be different because you were here?

Have you ever wondered that? Are you struggling with it now?

I often quote my favorite philosopher, my mother, who used to say, "If you could buy him for what he is worth and sell him for what he thinks he's worth you could be a millionaire!"

What she is saying is that value is subjective. It is hard to determine. That contributes to the problem.

If you ask, "Do I matter?", the next question would be, "Matter to whom?"

Who will you allow to determine your value? How will you decide what your life is worth? Where can you go to get an accurate estimate of your worth?

That IS the question, "Isn't it?"

A primary way we determine value in our marketplace is who designed the product and who made it?

If you see labels like "Ford", "Kenmore", "Old Navy", or "Seiko" an item will have one value. But, if you see brands like "Ralph Lauren", "Mecedes", "BMW", or "Rolex" those items will increase in value significantly.

How do you begin your search for significance? Where do you begin to look to determine your value? Look to your label.

Who designed you? Who created you? The answer to that question matters if you want to matter!

Hint: check the Bible verse above.