Wednesday, October 13, 2010

You Are More Significant Than You Can Imagine

As we go about our daily routine many of us lose sight of who we are. I know we know who we are to ourselves, to our family and to our friends but we often forget who we are to God. Then again, who we are to our family and friends can change with every action we take. Some think more highly of us and others more lowly, depending on how they interpret what we do. However, God's opinion of us never changes according to our actions. We are always the objects of his affection, who he lavishes with his love. The only thing that changes is whether we actually allow him to pour out his affections and blessings on us.

The Word tells us that we were the enemy of God and still he loved us. He loved us as his enemy enough to send his precious Son to open the door to his forgiveness. It is through this forgiveness, the sacrifice on the cross, the spilling of Jesus' blood, that we are able to enter into a rich fellowship with the Father, Son and Spirit. As his adopted children we are precious to him. If he loved us as his enemy, how much more as his children? As his children he is able to pour out his affection in the form of many blessings. However, he is also a good Dad who allows us to walk through many storms for our benefit, that we would grow and mature. Even in this he blesses us with strength, determination and the knowledge that he is with us in it. There is nothing that encourages us more than knowing our Dad is standing beside us in these storms of life.

Yet it is in these storms or even in our daily routine that we can lose sight of who we are to our Father. We forget our importance and the promises he made. We need to be reminded by someone or we need to remind ourselves that we are the precious of Jehovah. Jesus made that abundantly clear as he was explaining the importance of John the Baptist to the crowd. Jesus had just sent John's disciples back to encourage John. He told the crowd of John's significance as a prophet, as the forerunner, as the "Elijah". John's role was vital in preparing the people for the Messiah. In a nation that was entirely messed up by its ideologies, worldliness, and struggle to survive, it was John who had been calling them back to Jehovah worship. Yet, this is what Jesus said:

I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. (Matthew 11:11)

Our perception is so much different than our Father's. So often we consider ourselves unloved, yet he loves us in great abundance. We consider ourselves weak and of no great significance, yet even the least among us is greater than the great prophet John the Baptist. We look at this man with great respect yet we are greater than he was. We have more knowledge, more power and a better relationship with the Father than John could ever imagine having because of our relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit. You are not insignificant. In fact you are more significant than you could possibly realize but the enemy wants to convince you otherwise.

You see, as long as the enemy can keep whispering his lies, keep convincing us that we are not significant, he is able to keep this threat under control. That is what we are to him, a threat. We have the resurrection power pumping through us and we are the objects of our Father's affection. Dad wants to do great things through us, like love the lost, care for the dying, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, healing the sick; reaching out with arms of compassion and love, spreading the good news, calling the world to repentance, letting them know the Kingdom of God is at hand. But the enemy does not want us considering anything our Father wants us to do so he convinces us we are insignificant so there is nothing much we can do but survive. We reduce our life down to work, eating, cleaning and being entertained, whereas our Father has called us into glory, to join him in his work.

It's time to throw off the lies of the enemy and step into who you are in Christ Jesus. You are called into the Father's work. You are of great significance. You are precious to him and the object of his affection. You have been called greater than the likes of John the Baptist and even Jesus said you would do greater things than he had done. You are a power house of the Holy Spirit. So let's approach our day with this attitude and expect the unexpected. To God be the glory!

2 comments:

PJ said...

Hey Pastor Pal! How's new married life treating you? Well, I hope! Again, Congratulations.

I have VERY LOW self-esteem and it feels so good to know that when I go through my day feeling beat down by peoples comments, (even though they may not realize how their words cut me), I am so glad that I have a God who builds me up and loves me anyway. I feel enveloped in His loveing arms and it makes all the "fiery darts" disappear. God Bless,
PJ

Michael Paul said...

Married life is a great blessing from the Lord. I am enjoying it very much.

I am so glad that you have that sense of God's love. So many people with low self-esteem use it as an excuse to suffer and hide away, failing to answer God's calling. I have suffered from a similar affliction all my life, I am a very shy person. But knowing that I am called of God and equipped by him has allowed me to respond to his call and daily instructions without fear.

Blessings.