“My frame was not hidden from you when I was
made in the secret place. When I was woven together
in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed
body. All the days ordained for me were written in
your book before one of them came to be.” (Psalm
139:15-16 NIV)
God spoke
my son, Jeremy, into my wife’s womb, just as
God spoke you into your mother’s womb. Jeremy
was “fearfully and wonderfully made,”
and God ordained his days, just as he’s ordained
yours. (Psalm 139:14, 16 NIV)
Jeremy was
one of God’s great ideas. Like you, Jeremy was
an expression of God’s blue-ribbon brilliance.
He was a Matisse-like masterpiece, lovingly, deliberately,
and carefully created by the One True God, the creative
Creator of the universe.
My son, Jeremy,
died at birth because of a destructiveDNAdisorder
called Trisomy 18, but that didn’t diminish
the value of his life, his legacy, or his significance
to God. Jeremy’s every chromosome fit intricately
– and for now, unexplainably to us – into
God’s flawless planning.
If you grasp
this – “how wide and long and high and
deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love
that surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:18-19a
NIV) – then you’re on your way to understanding
the extraordinary value of every human life, how each
individual is a masterpiece created by God.
You, too,
are a masterpiece created by God.
Oswald Chambers
wrote, “Individual lives are the expression
of a pre-existing idea in the mind of God.”
In other words, every human being is a unique, one-of-a-kind,
never-to-be-repeated expression of God’s incredible
creativity, and as a Christian you become a unique
reflection of Jesus Christ as he works through you
to serve others.
The point
is, God thought you up (Jeremiah 1:5), and now he
lovingly thinks of you.
You are of
immeasurable worth to God, and your value is not determined
by your appearance or performance, or how much time
or money you can contribute, or how well you sing
or teach – or how long you live. The value of
any container is determined by its contents, and you
are a one and only, custom-made container of Uncommon
Stuff – as a believer, you contain the very
life of God.
Rejoice in
this truth, and be set free.
What does
this mean?
·
God’s love transforms – When
you understand your value to God, you will be less
likely to sin. His love will compel you to walk in
the light. If you deeply and truly understood how
much God loved you, how would your behavior change?
·
We devalue others – When we think in
such terms as “You’re valuable to me as
long as you’re useful” or “You’re
valuable to me as long as I enjoy your company.”
This reduces people to mere tools or objects of pleasure.
God’s
masterpiece is on the couch– If you
are God’s masterpiece, so is the couch potato
in your house, or the person at church who you diplomatically
describe as “contrary.” (That’s
the Southerner (U.S.) in me coming out – ha!)
© 2008
Purpose Driven Life. All rights reserved.
Pastor Jon Walker is a writer for www.GraceCreates.com.
The support, information and encouragement provided by the PPFL parents is not meant to take the place of medical advice by a medical professional. Any specific questions about care should be directed to a health care professional familiar with the situation.
