Day 246: WE LIVE! (Know your Worth)

1 Corinthians 7:23

God paid a high price for you, so don't be enslaved by the world.

1 Peter 1:18-19

Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

I think we are all under the common knowledge of the cost of our salvation. We know the price Jesus paid so that we could be saved, and live a life free of sin and shame. We know John 3:16, and how powerful the message is of this beautiful scripture. The scripture tells us that God loves us so much, the scripture states that he “so loved the world”. He loves us so much that He sent His son, his only son, to die so that we may have an everlasting life. So that we may be saved and have a relationship with Him. Jesus came to earth and willingly gave up His life because He loves us so much. Through these actions of selfless and unconditional love, we live. We live freely, and unbound to anything or anyone. We live free of guilt, shame, sin, fear, regret, our past. Free of it all, we live. I want to talk about two major points today, starting with us as the body of Christ knowing our worth, as well as knowing that life is worth living.

Know your worth

Matthew 6:26

Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?

Do you understand that you are worth more? What I mean is to God, you are worth the life of His son. Let’s think about that for a minute. You are valuable to God. We are the things He loves most. Out of all creation, and we can all agree that we have seen some astoundingly beautiful things in our lifetime. We have seen beauty beyond words, and even in that light, when God looks at us, we are more beautiful. We can be standing in the middle of the most beautiful place on Earth, but in God’s eyes we are the most beautiful thing on earth or even in the universe. We are more valuable in His eyes. Knowing this truth, how are we to go through life? Knowing that we are so worthy in the eyes of God, how are we to carry ourselves? We cannot walk around defeated or without confidence because our father in heaven has the victory and He has given it to us. Our father in heaven has given us the biggest confidence boost of all time. One of the biggest parts of life is knowing or finding our worth. Many times we will come to the conclusion that we have been selling ourselves short. If we want to survive in life, we must know our worth. It’s imperative that we understand our worth. To do that we must look to God and His word.

Life is worth living

Jesus gave his life so that we can have life. That’s how much He loves us. But also that is how important we are to Him. That’s how important our lives are to Him. He didn’t just give up His life for no reason. There was something He knew that we didn’t. Jesus knew our worth, He knew that we were created for a purpose and He could not allow our lives to be destroyed and continuously corrupted by sin. Our lives are worth living. Our lives are meant to be lived. Our lives are so important that He would give up His to make sure we have ours. That means we have a purpose, There is a reason for us to be here, So much so, that Jesus gave up His life to make sure we can live. God sent His son to make sure we can live. We’re here for a reason. If we had no purpose, if our lives didn’t matter why would Jesus give up  His life for ours?

All this to say, know your worth and know that your life has a purpose. You have a purpose. You are here for a reason. Jesus did something for us that no one else could do, He gave us a chance to live.  Money couldn’t do it, only love could.

Reflection

1. Do you believe that your life is important to God?
2. Do you believe that you are here for a reason?
3. Are you aware of your worth?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer today. Have some time of silence and solitude with God. Spend time with God, just take the time to think about how much He loves you.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 247!

Day 228: All Summed Up

Romans 13:8-10

Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law.  For the commandments say, “You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet.” These—and other such commandments—are summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.

This scripture had me shook when I read it, it 👏had 👏me 👏shooketh👏. The shookness came from the revelation in this scripture that can answer a theological question that has been burning in me and many others for  a very  long time. Romans has the answers to many questions. But before we get there let’s break these scriptures down a bit.

The scripture starts off by telling us that we owe nothing to anyone. The only thing we owe to anyone is love. The only thing we are obligated to do as people and followers of Christ is love one another. We’re not obligated to please people, or bend over backwards trying to make someone happy, no all we have to do is love them. The crazy thing about that is, this is the most simple, yet profound and complex command ever, but it’s so beautiful when you think about it and put it into perspective As humans we love naturally, whether we want to admit it or not we all want to be loved and we all want to love. It’s who we are, and it’s astounding the measures love can go. However, sometimes we make love complicated by adding conditions to it, and using it to get what we want. We often find ourselves hearing or saying, “If you really love me, you will…”. But love is not manipulative. Or we “mistake” love for something else, like empty words, or lustful eyes, and sex. Love is not that either. This scripture is so profound because even when we decide to give up on love or stop trying, someone is still out there obeying the command of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ to love us. If we don’t deserve anything else, we deserve love. When we uncomplicate things we will realize that love is a basic part of living. It makes for a much happier life as well, life is just more enjoyable and fruitful when you choose love… Moving on…

The next part of the scripture is the part that had me shooketh. It says, as you can read above but I have to repeat it for emphasis, “If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law.” Crazy right?! Now before I move on, one of the many questions that many Christians have is, if Jesus came to die for us, then why do we still live by the ten commandments which are in the old testament? It’s always been this kind of debate, or seeking an answer of if the New Testament is the way in which we supposed to live as opposed to the old testament, because you know Jesus, He’s the way, the truth, and the life. The question lingers, do we still have to live by the laws of the old testament? The answer to that question is summed up in the next part of this scripture. Where is says…

“ For the commandments say, “You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet.” These—and other such commandments—are summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.”

Meaning every command is summed up in the two commands Jesus gave us,

Matthew 22”37-40

Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

By obeying these two commands we obey all ten commandments. We do not ignore the law in the name of Jesus instead we honor it by following His path. What I mean is that Jesus gave us these two great commands to love God and love people. Now if we love God, ourselves, and others these commandments are fulfilled. Simply because love is the foundation of it all. We don’t hurt the people we love, we won’t steal from them, kill them, covet what have, sow discord, because love won’t allow us to do it. It’s almost as if love obeys the commands for us. When we love God we won’t put anything before Him or use His name in vain. Love won’t allow it.

We’ve been to this scripture so many times to talk about love, but this time I actually recognized and understood verse 40, The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments. This has been the goal from the beginning. Love has always been the foundation of it all. We know that from reading Deuteronomy 6:5,  “And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength”.

All this to say, Love has been and will always be the foundation of who we are. If we love God, ourselves, and others, in that order than we are fulfilling the commands of our Father in heaven.

Reflection/Prayer Time

Take the time to share and discuss what we talked about today. Go back over the scriptures and even read the full passages. Pray and ask God for clarity and revelation of His word.

I love you, I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 229!

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