What are you worth?

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Anyone who studies the history of mankind and considers how intellectual thinking has affected societies, would say that for a nation or people group to see every individual person as having equal worth is a radical idea. The natural tendency of man is to think that highly successful people, the educated and wealthy for instance, are much more valuable than those who are poverty stricken and struggling.

It is a common expectation today to exalt the smart, the rich, the famous and treat them as if their worth is based on what they have to offer. The notion that anyone would consider all individuals to be of equal worth despite the variation in our talents and abilities and intellect would be miraculous. But in this verse, this one little Bible verse, God declares that we are all, everyone one of us who has ever lived, worth His love. The creator of the sun and the moon and the stars, who keeps the planets in their orbit, is saying that each of us are of such value to Him, that He would come to be with us and then suffer and die for us.

Why? Why would He do that? Why is the most down and out drug addict living behind a mall next to the dumpster treated that way by God? Because He made them and wants a personal relationship with them and He wants them to call Him Father and He wants them to come to Him so He can care for all their needs. You are worth that to God. He loves you as much as He has loved anyone else in history. Think about that. He loves you as much as the greatest musician, or poet, or Bible teacher, or celebrity or king.

Read this verse again and put your name in the place of "the world." "For God so loved __________ (your name) that He gave His only begotten son." He is willing to grant you the gift of eternal life, not based on how well you have performed or how many people you have influenced, but merely based on your faith. Is that a reason to be thankful and rejoice? Nothing in life compares to that. Thank Him today that He loves you that much.