Who Loves Ya, Baby?

I am veering from my usual blogging style just a bit for this one. I really want to get down to basics and speak to you from my heart. So far in this 2014 Blog Challenge, I have written about who we are in Christ (meaning when we give our hearts to God, he makes us new). However, I want to tell you something that is at the very core of everything. I mean EVERYTHING. It is the core of why you even exist.


You are valued. You are cherished. You are loved. You are special.


You. Are.

Psalm 139:13-17 (NLT)

¹³ You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
    and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
    Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
¹⁵ You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
    as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
¹⁶ You saw me before I was born.
    Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
    before a single day had passed.

¹⁷ How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
    They cannot be numbered!

I know the enemy fights you. I know he tells you lies about your beauty, worth, purpose, character, and future. He doesn't like you. He doesn't value you. He hates you. I'm here to tell you, though, that it is nothing personal. It FEELS personal and it hurts, but Satan doesn't care about hurting you. He cares about hurting God. Why would hurting you matter to God?


It is because God LOVES you. The Creator made you special and complex. You are marvelous just the way you are! You've never been alone, even when you were being formed in the womb, because it is not in God's nature to leave your side. He can't take his eyes off of you! He has special plans for your life and your life has purpose. You are always on his mind.


You are precious to God. You are a treasure to him. A TREASURE. The next time the enemy tries to tell you otherwise, just come back and re-read this blog remembering WHO made you and WHO loves you. Remember your worth. 


YOU are anything but typical.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Know someone who needs to read this blog?
 Feel free to share it using the buttons below.

Thanks for sharing!  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How Much is a Soul Worth These Days?

Ten days ago, I meditated on "Jehovah-M'Kaddesh," which is one of the names of God. It means "the God who sanctifies." I posted a song to go with that blog post called "What Do I Know of Holy" by Addison Road. I love the bridge of that song that says:

What do I know of holy?

What do I know of wounds that will heal my shame?

And the God who gave life it's name?

What do I know of holy?

Of the One who the angels praise?

All creation knows Your name.

On earth and heaven above

What do I know of this love?

That part wrecks me every time I hear it: "What do I know of wounds that will heal my shame?"

We look at the cross through the eyes of followers who couldn't believe what they were seeing, through the eyes of a broken-hearted mother who was watching her son suffer a cruel and humiliating death, or through the eyes of people who have heard so much about the death of Jesus their whole lives that they forget its power. Regardless of how we look at the cross and what Jesus did, I think most of us miss a valuable component of the whole situation.

How did God see the cross? Did he hurt? Was he angry? Did he want to slap the stupid smirk right off the devil's face? How does a holy God look upon the cruelty of the cross?

(Key word: holy. Today's meditation was on the fact that God is holy.)

How does a holy God look at my shame? How does a holy God look at the sin that caused my shame? How does a holy God deal with my sin, shame, and the punishment that I deserve?

Let's see what scripture says about the holiness of God:

Isaiah 40:25-31 (NLT)

25 "To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?" asks the Holy One. 26 Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out one after another, calling each by its name. And he counts them to see that none are lost or have strayed away. 27 O Israel, how can you say the LORD does not see your troubles? How can you say God refuses to hear your case? 28 Have you never heard or understood? Don't you know that the LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth? He never grows faint or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. 29 He gives power to those who are tired and worn out; he offers strength to the weak. 30 Even youths will become exhausted, and young men will give up. 31 But those who wait on the LORD will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.  

For a God who has no equal, created all that exists, knows the name of every star and ensures that no star gets lost, never gets tired, and has understanding so deep that it can't be measured, it's pretty safe to say that He looks at everything differently than we do. His perspective is beyond our ability to comprehend on our own.

So for a holy God that can be described as such, how does He deal with my sin, shame, and the punishment that I deserve? A cross. While I don't believe for a second that the cross was easy to endure or to watch, I believe that God, in His perfect and holy perspective, looked past the pain, humiliation and betrayal and saw all of the souls that would be saved from eternal punishment through this one final Divine sacrifice.

Your soul has great value to God. My soul has great value to God. Though what God went through was hard, He thought it would be harder to spend eternity without us. He did what was necessary to rescue our souls even though it cost Him something. That is holy.