1. Your Importance to God

Just how important is the human race to God? Just how important to God are you in particular?

In the Noahic Flood, God destroyed all but eitht people. All men, women and children; all animals except those in the ark of Noah. How important were they to God?

Except for Noah, it turns out, the entire human race had embraced evil. Except for Noah and his family there wasn't one righteous soul. Children were brought directly to heaven owing to the statement by Jesus that their "faces do always behold the face of the Father."

Does God love the people he created in his own image? The answer is absolutely, categorically YES!

God externalized HIMSELF when he created you!

• You were made in his image . . .

  God created . . . every living creature . . . after their kind, God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

  We were created in the image of God 'after his kind.'
  (Genesis 1:21, 27)

  Spirit (pneuma -- God the Father)
  Soul (psyche -- God the Holy Spirit)
  Body (soma -- God the Son)

• To participate in his essence . . .

  ". . . gave him . . . to the church, which is his body, THE FULLNESS OF HIM THAT FILLS ALL IN ALL"
  (Ephesians 1:22-33)

  . . . through these you may become partakers of the divine nature
  (II Peter 1:4)

  "I shall know even as I am known"
  (I Corinthians 13:12, Colossians 2:9-10)
  

  "We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." (I John 3:2)

• For a specific function . . .

  At the Judgement Seat of Christ our works on earth will be evaluated. It will be a happy occasion -- "In the futuree there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing." (II Timothy 4:8)

All of this will determine our function in the eternal state.

All of this -- from beginning to the end --
is wholly and completely the Act of God!

God took our sins upon himself and became the recipient of the consequences (punishment) of our sin.

He made him to be sin for us . . . that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
(II Corrinthians 5:21)

The Lord laid on him . . . the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:6) See also Psalm 103:10-12.

Hence, God expiated himself when it was you and I who should have been condemned. In a very unusual sense God made atonement for himself in bearing our sins.

BECAUSE OF THE ACT OF GOD IN 'DECLARING YOU TO BE RIGHTEOUS,' YOU ARE AS RIGHTEOUS AS THE ONE BEFORE WHOM YOU STAND AT THE JUDGEMENT SEAT OF CHRIST.

Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy . . . To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. (Jude 1:23-25)

3. Your assessment of yourself.

• If God thinks enough of you to arrange for your redemption . . .
• If God considers you worth the death of his Son . . .
• If God VALUES YOU THAT MUCH . . .

Why do we so incessantly demean ourselves and relegate ourselves to be so much garbage?

• Do you think God made a mistake when he created you before the earth itself was created? Was God wrong when he thought you would be good for this world?
• Do you think that your bad decisions and mistakes are so wicked and so evil that they exceed God's love for you, or the unimaginable Grace he extends to you?
• Do you think that God didn't know all about that before he created you?

Measure your worth to yourself by your worth to God!

There is a popular Christian hymn the major premise of which is:

"I am not worthy of the least of his favor."

You are not worthy? Maybe that depends on who is doing the evaluating.

If the Creator of the Universe would do what he did for you -- COUNT ON IT -- You must have been worth the price!

Your concept of yourself SHOULD BE BASED ON GOD'S CONCEPT OF YOU. When God looks at you, what does he see . . ?

He does not see (takes no notice of) your sin. He sees the righteousness of his Son. So should you and I -- instead of fretting about your own inadequacy and sin -- concentrate on the righteounsess and sufficiency of Jesus living inside you!

The process of Christian maturity is the process of the redemption of the mind -- redeeming it from self-concentration, sex concentration, 'herd'-concentration, money concentration, past-concentration and instead, concentrating on the sufficiency jof God. You become Christ-conscious instead of self-concious; you become future-conscious instead of past-conscious; you become creative-concious, since your attention is focused on the Creator. -- Anonymous

WHEN YOUR FATHER LOOKS AT YOU, HE SEES SOMEONE HE LOVES WITH ALL HIS HEART. He sees someone he wants in his family -- FAMILY! -- The whole and absolute ratioinale for Creation. One of the most basic urges of God is the urge for a family. Remember: We are made in his Image.

BECAUSE IT MEANS LOVING
AND BEING LOVED IN RETURN.

(Remember: You are a Rolls-Royce, not a dirt-bike.)

4. Your Importance to Others

We should view others as God views us.

If we did that . . . UTOPIA! Problems would evaporate!

BUT WE DON'T DO THAT!

We look at the bad things instead of the righteousness of Christ. God looks at me -- knows I am sinful -- and it doesn't matter. I look at my brother -- I know he is sinful -- I get all upset and start judging.

WE NEED TO CONDUCT OUR LIVES AS THOUGH OTHERS THOUGHT AS MUCH ABOUT US AS WE DO ABOUT THEM.

BUT . . .

Do not determine your value as measured by others, but your value to others as measured by God.

If we are to relate to others without imposing guilt on ourselves (by making unfair and unrealistic comparisons), our confidence toward God grows stronger.

Invest your life in others -- especially those we admire and respect. Invest your life in those who need you, (in the least of these), but be careful not to reach the place where you have nnothing left to give. Protect yourself.

The unreflected life isn't worth living!