Did you know you are precious to God? I remember some years ago a friend came to a Christmas concert at my church, and he had never been in a gospel-preaching church before. After the concert, his comment to me was: “I’ve never heard anyone use the word precious in a sermon.” That caught his attention.
Well, it’s clear from Scripture that we are precious to God—we are loved and valued and treasured. Look at Psalm 72:12-14 (NLV):
For He will take out of trouble the one in need when he cries for help, and the poor man who has no one to help. He will have loving-pity on the weak and those in need. He will save the lives of those in need. He will take them from the bad power that is held over them and from being hurt. Their blood will be of much worth in His eyes.
And Isaiah 43:4:
Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life.
When was the last time someone said: “You are precious to me”—or at least some words that made you feel precious, loved, valued? Well, I want you to know if you are born from above and have received Christ as your Savior, you are precious to God.
What kind of relationship did you have or do you have with your earthly father? It’s true that the way our earthly father related to us has a strong effect on our relationship with our Heavenly Father. So,
- Did you feel taken care of?
- Did you ever worry about what you would eat or wear or where you would live?
- Did you have a full sense that your dad loved you?
- Did he express his love to you in ways that you could feel it?
- Did he ever abandon you?
- Was he harsh and demanding?
- Was he mostly an absentee father?
- Was he emotionally removed from you?
The attributes and characteristics of our earthly fathers can become our measuring rod, comparison, or definition of what a father is. Hopefully you were blessed with a loving, caring father as I was, but for those who had distant or harsh fathers—or worse still, abusive or nowhere-to-be-found fathers—believing and accepting that you have a Heavenly Father who sees you as precious is not so easy to do. But let me assure you—it is true. You are precious to God.
