Valued and valuable are not the same.
This is the truth God has been impressing upon my heart this
past week. It is a simple truth, perhaps an obvious one, apparent to most
people. However, for me, I somehow missed the vast difference between the two,
and truthfully, it distressed me.
For I have frequently heard in Christian circles that I am valuable in the sight of God. This was said
with the intent to comfort and reassure. It did anything but comfort or
reassure me. Instead, it raised a niggling question in the back of my mind, a
question that would not go away but I was not brave enough to voice: What happens when I have nothing of value? No
fruit, no influence, no souls won, no positive impact made—and very little
potential for any of it in circumstances which seemed very isolating? Would God
regret choosing me?
That doubt was a lie. I
knew that and tried to refute it as such: God makes no mistakes; He promised
never to forsake me or forget me; He sees me, loves me, and that would never
change because He never changes. But despite knowing all this with my head, the
niggling doubt lingered.
Then I realized, from watching a secular television show of
all things, the difference between being valued and
being valuable.
Man looks at people and sees
them as valuable. Therefore, man values other people. However, this
value is dependent on the person valued: what he is or what she does determines
his or her value. So when we no longer have anything to offer or our status
changes or another surpasses us, we are no longer valued because we are no
longer valuable. As a result, we are tossed aside and forgotten, neither needed
nor wanted.
This is not how God sees us. He created us and therefore values us. And since
He values us, He treasures us as something valuable. So my value is not
dependent on me or who I am or what I do or not do. It is dependent on God, on His
actions and His character. And because He does not change, His value of
me will not change either.
So God loves me and He values
me.
Therefore, I will always be valuable
to Him.
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