A New Day

By: Pastor Johnie Akers     

Isaiah 43:4, “. . . thou wast precious in my sight. . .”  Brett Kays in Leadership magazine once shared the following powerful story:  “A speaker started his seminar by holding up a $20 bill.  ‘Who would like this?’ he asked.  Hands went up throughout the audience. ‘I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first let me do this.’  He crumpled the bill. ‘Who still wants it?’ The same hands went up in the air. ‘Well,’ he replied, ‘what if I do this?’  He dropped the twenty and started to grind it into the carpet with his shoe.  He picked it up, all wrinkled and dirty.  ‘Now who still wants it?’  Again, hands went into the air.  ‘You have all learned a valuable lesson,’ the speaker said.  ‘No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20.’”  Mr. Kays added, “Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way.  We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value in God’s eyes.  Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are priceless to him.”  In our Scripture lesson today, the Lord reminds His people, who had been unfaithful to Him, and drifted from the moorings of their relationship with God, that in His estimation, they were still “precious in [His] sight.”  Your value does not come from your wealth, your talent, your pedigree, or your social connections.  Your value comes from God.  Conversely, God does not devalue you based upon adverse circumstances you may have encountered or mistakes you may have made.  No matter how much you have been crushed, defaced, defamed, or soiled, you are just as valuable today, as you were, on the day God created you.  So today, in spite of how invaluable you may feel, always remember, your infinite worth has been ascribed to you by your heavenly Father.  With a renewed sense of worth, you can face lifewith the confidence of your priceless value in God’s sight and live it to the fullest, with each new day.

Source:  Brett Kays, Leadership, Fall 2000, p. 71.