Preston Headrick - ‘We are Valuable To Him’

Matthew 6:25-26 states, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
“Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
This passage comes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. In the Sermon on the Mount there are a lot of words that challenge us in our relationship with Jesus Christ and with others. In this passage, Jesus is telling us not to worry. I could preach a sermon on worry, but that is not what I am going to focus on in this column.
My Daddy, Leo Headrick, used to enjoy watching the birds out of the picture window in the rear of the house that he and my mother lived in. My wife, J.J., and I live in a small house. One of our favorite parts of the house is our sunroom. Outside our sunroom, we have a bird feeder. We enjoy watching those birds each morning while we are having our time reading the Bible and praying with one another.
One day last week, as I was at the house by myself, I was watching the birds from the sunroom, and the above passage from Matthew came to my mind.  And what really stood out to me was when Jesus asks the question to the listeners concerning are we not more valuable than the birds.
There may be some of you reading this who may be in the place I was at one time in my life. I had felt like I had sinned too many times and in too many ways for God to love me, or me to have any value to God.
When we think about having value to God, we often think about how we could be valuable for the things we could do for God. And I am a firm believer in serving God with our gifts and talents. But our value to God is in who we are and not what we do.
J.J. and I are blessed with two children. Both are married, and we have five grandchildren. We love them all not because of what they can do. We love them because they are our children.
When I think about our value to God, I think about how if He values us, it would be a good thing for us to value others. We value others because we believe all people are created in the Image of God. We are told in Genesis 1:27, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” We know that image was marred in the Fall when Adam and Eve sinned.  And yet that did not stop God from loving us.  
To demonstrate His love for us and us being valuable to Him, He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins. Romans 5:8 states, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  
He values us enough that He would allow for us to be born again and have that Father child relationship with Him. We are born again spiritually as we are told in John 1:12,13, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:  Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
When we are born again, we come to realize we are valuable to God because we experience His love. We are reminded of that in  1 John 3:1, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.”
Much of the ministry the Lord has allowed me to do is with people who have gone down the road of substance abuse. As one who has been down that road and the perilous places being on that road takes you to, I have found that many have felt as I have--like they have blown it all and in no way could have value to God.
And on the other hand, there are people who have not gone down that road who go through other hurtful life experiences, or mistakes they have made and who don’t believe they could have any value to God. Today, if you are one of those people, I want to assure you--you are valuable to God.
When Jesus was being criticized by the religious Pharisees because He ate and drank with sinners, He responded in this way, Luke 15:3-7, “So He spoke this parable to them, saying: ‘What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?
"And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'
"I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.”
Perhaps as you read this you have been convinced you are just a nobody and there is nothing about you that God could value. Know this--that just as that one lost sheep was valuable to that shepherd, you are valuable to our Great Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The next time you see some birds somewhere, be reminded you are much more valuable to God than they are.
We are so valuable to God that Jesus left the perfect place to come and suffer and die for us so we could have that intimate love relationship with Him. I can remember when I came to realize that. I repented of my sin and put my faith and trust in Him and His precious Blood. You and I were valuable enough to Him for Him to give His life for us.  One more time, the next time you see some birds--think about that!
(Editor’s Note: Preston Headrick was asked to write a guest column along our February theme of love. We feel he did a great job with his article on being valuable to God and realizing it. Thank you, Preston. As a retired minister, he remains involved through his organization, Real Party Ministry. He can be reached at prestonheadrick13@gmail.com.)