Jeremiah 1:5
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.
Psalm 139: 13-16
For You formed my inward parts; You covered [knit me together] in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made…
My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret…
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.
Admiring their happy little month old baby boy as he lay sleeping in his mother’s arms, with gentle wonder and a smile on his face his father said, ‘Just look at him, he’s truly worth millions…’
My sister has been telling me about her recent experiences as a medical student in the hospital delivery wards. She described to me the intensity of the situations surrounding the birth of a healthy baby for all involved and said, ‘Knowing all the medical complications that can potentially go wrong during the pregnancy, even to get pregnant, and during birth, to end up with a healthy baby in any parent’s arms, really is a miracle!’
God declares to us in His Word, that before we were born He knew us.
1 John 4:10
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for [the mercy seat that covers] our sins.
John 15: 13-14
Greater love has NO ONE than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are my friends…
Romans 8:35-39
Who shall [be able] to separate us from the LOVE of Christ?….For I am persuaded that THINGS PRESENT, nor things to come….shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Sources of criticism, words that can make us de-value ourselves are around us every day. The deepest wounds can come from those that are closest to us. But even those who do not know us saying something completely untrue about us, can sometimes also affect us.
Perhaps it may sound silly, but even after being a dentist for almost 6 years now, when a new patient says to me before I’ve had a chance to say anything, ‘I hate coming to the dentist…’ I still have to step back and reassure myself it is not me they hate. ‘So silly’, I think to myself, but such is human nature. Our natural default settings of having an inner conscience, means our souls continually desire approval.
Romans 5: 8
But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: WHILE we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Matthew 26: 67
Then they spat in [Jesus’] face and beat Him; and others struck Him with the palms of their hands.
Isaiah 50: 6
I gave My back to those who struck Me, and my cheeks to those who plucked out the beard. I did not hide My face from SHAME and spitting.
Wanting other’s approval is not a ‘bad thing’. The Bible explains that this desire all human beings have comes from having a conscience – a sense of what is right and wrong, passed down to every human being from the very beginning when Adam received this conscience in the Garden of Eden. (Genesis 2:15-17)
Even not being aware of all the exact medical complications of having a baby, most can acknowledge the miracle of a new born baby. So valued and precious to their loving parents, a baby may enter this world, marvelling at the immeasurable value of their new child.
This marvelling, this awe, this love a parent has for their new miracle child, IS the way God looks at you and me EVERY DAY! EVERY MOMENT! Others may not see it, you may not see it, but God declares ALL throughout His Word that He sees your value immeasurable and forever unchanging in His eyes. For before you were born, way before you were formed in your mother’s womb, in the Garden of Eden, God saw you and loved you. (Jeremiah 1:5, Genesis 3:15) God sent His Son out of an acknowledgement of how valuable He thought you were to save. (1 John 4:10) The choice Adam and Eve made in the garden doomed all of mankind to die, all humanity needed saving. As sin begs punishment, God sent Jesus to take on the punishment for ALL sin out of His love for us.
Jesus called us his friends, even before we knew Him and before we had a chance to do anything right by Him and gave up His life for us on the cross to save us. (John 15: 13-14, Romans 5:8) He approved you worthy of His love, worthy to lay His life down for, from the beginning of time.
Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the SAME, yesterday, today and forever.
Jesus allowed Himself to be spat on, have His beard plucked out, slapped, whipped, tortured, mocked, people say hateful things to Him, allowed Himself to be shamed – all so that we don’t have to accept shame today. The comprehension of this one defining act of God’s love for us will take eternity to comprehend. But for today, He reminds us again that, that thing PRESENT in your life right now – maybe a wrong thing you feel guilty for, or that worry or fear you have – CANNOT separate His love from you. It CANNOT and it DOESN’T! (Romans 8:35-39)
You and I are so valuable and loved by God today.He saw you a long time ago, He saw you yesterday, He sees you today and He sees you in your tomorrow – seeing you worth more than millions of dollars, He sees you worth the sacrifice of His Son. Nothing you and I could ever do can change how much He values and loves us: BEFORE we were born and had a chance to do anything good He loved us, He KNEW all the bad we would do and still sent Jesus to die for us.
His love is not based on anything we do, it is pure love, pure grace that cannot be earned. RIGHT NOW you have HIS approval, His love and His favour!
His love for you NEVER CHANGES.
Jesus loves and values you TODAY – AS MUCH as on the day He died on the cross for you, for He is the SAME yesterday, today and forever! Amen.(Hebrews 13:8)
“