3 Real Ways to Know You are Precious to God
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Many verses in the Bible tell us we are important and precious to God (Isaiah 49:16, Jeremiah 31:3, John 3:16, Romans 5:8). But sometimes, getting that knowledge to move from our heads to our hearts and to live knowing we are of great value to God can be difficult.
In our everyday lives, it is common to struggle to know we are special, to not feel good about ourselves, or that who we are or what we do matters. Often, we look to self-help techniques to improve our self-esteem. Yet, by looking at what God says about us in His Word, we not only deepen our understanding of our worth, but can live out our purpose and be who God designed us to be. Here, we are going to dig deep into three real ways to know you are precious to God.
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1. You Are Unique
We are encouraged to celebrate uniqueness. We teach children that they are special by acknowledging and respecting who they are—their talents and traits. As adults, we are urged to see differences as strengths, and to challenge what we consider to be normal. In these ways, we are made to feel valued. Yet, by looking at creation and to our Creator, we can truly understand our uniqueness and how special we are.
Human beings are the work of God in conjunction with His work in the rest of creation. Yet, we are created in a distinct way from the rest of creation (Genesis 1:26-27). At the culmination of His work God took the dust of the earth and formed man. God used his own breath to bring the first human being to life (Genesis 2:7). We are an extraordinary and unmatched creation of both physical and spiritual unity.
Our unique making, in comparison to the creation of the rest of the world, gives account for the sanctity of human life, compared to other creatures (Genesis 9:6). God tells us the preciousness of human life (Exodus 20:13, Psalm 139:13-16) and Jesus acknowledged our value over all creation (Matthew 6:26).
Not only are we uniquely formed, but you and I are made in the image of God. Although there is much discussion over how we bear God’s image, Psalm 8:4-5 gives us an idea of the importance of our being as God’s image bearers: “What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.”
You and I are precious to God because of our unique make-up, and because we are created in the image of God. Let’s wear our crowns of glory and honor well.
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2. You Are Enough
Feeling inadequate and inferior—that we are “not good enough”—is something many people experience. And because of this, we are encouraged to make self-affirmations to improve our self-image and behaviors. Be kind to yourself, change your self-talk, stop needing the approval of others are a few of the many suggestions for feeling better about ourselves, and improving our perception of how others think of us.
We can also project our “not good enough” feelings onto God’s understanding of us—that there is so much wrong with us, and we are far from perfect. We forget the wonderful uniqueness of being human and created in God’s image. We fail to remember that God believes we are enough for Him to send His Son to die for us in our sinful state (Romans 5:8).
The truth is, we are not good enough. Nothing we can do can make us good enough for God. Romans 8:8 says we cannot please God. In an effort to feel better about ourselves and our state before God, we can deny that sin makes us detestable to Him. We can try and work to please God, or try to fix ourselves. By doing this, we are missing the wonder of redemption and his gift of grace (Ephesians 2:8). We are precious to God, even while sinful (John 3:16).
The story of redemption reminds us that God has not left us in our sinful state. God, who gives us physical life, also gives us spiritual life.
God sacrificed Himself for our sin (Ephesians 5:2). Jesus, the Son of God, took on the punishment that we deserved so we might go free. Looking to Jesus, our Savior, helps us gain back our perspective of our value to God.
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3. You Matter
Empowering those who are discriminated against, who suffer inequalities or are marginalized is important in our world. When empowerment takes place, it says “you matter.” It means you are significant and relevant.
God empowers His people because we are important to God and have a crucial role in His Kingdom.
The coming of the Holy Spirit, following the ascension of Christ, is our empowerment. We have God’s own Spirit dwelling within us (2 Corinthians 1:22). The third person of the Trinity is no less in power than God himself, or the power revealed by Jesus to heal, to save, to perform miracles.
God’s Spirit not only transforms His people to be Christ-like, but He empowers us to fulfill God’s purposes.
With the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the church was created. The work of the Holy Spirit makes Christ’s work to bring God’s Kingdom a reality on earth.
Remembering that we are being daily transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ means we do not need to focus on self-affirmations, but the affirmations proclaimed by God in his Word. Such as: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17) and “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).
When we struggle to know we are precious to God, dwelling on our unique creation, God’s gift of redemption, and the power of the Holy Spirit within us, can encourage us to understand our true value.
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