My God Sees Me…
As Very Valuable
- Luke 12:6-8
6 Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and
not one of them is forgotten before God?
7 But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear
not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.
8 Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men,
him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God:
A farthing was a measure of money that would equal about
¼th of a penny today. So today, using values in Jesus’ day, you
could buy five sparrows for about ½ of a penny. That tells you
what little value those small birds had in that day. Yet, God says
that he even remembers the sparrows, and we are much more
valuable to him than a whole lot of sparrows! He loves us and
values us so much that he even keeps track of how many hairs
are on our heads at any point in time!
Jesus says that if we will confess the truth of his reality and the gospel of his salvation to people on earth, he will confess us before the angels of God - an awesome promise!
(Now, that’s caring for something. Even the best pet lover
doesn’t keep track of the number of hairs on their pet’s head!)
My God Sees Me…
As the Apple of His Eye
- Psalm 17:7-9
7Shew thy marvelous loving-kindness, O thou that
savest by thy right hand them which put their trust
in thee from those that rise up against them.
8Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me
under the shadow of thy wings,
9From the wicked that oppress me, from my
deadly enemies, who compass me about.
- Zechariah 2:8
8For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath
he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he
that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
- 2 Thessalonians 1:6
6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense
tribulation to them that trouble you.
After what we’ve discovered already about how much God
loves us (enough to send His own son to die for us), is it a
surprise that we are the “apple of his eye”, and that he will
protect us from our enemies? As “graphed-in” descendents of
Abraham, we have Israel’s promises also.
It’s like having a big brother on the school yard saying:
“You touch him (or her) and you’re touching
me you bully. If you do, you’ll have Me to deal with!”
(Isn’t that awesome!)
My God Sees Me…
As Unique
(A one of a kind creation)
- Genesis 2:20
20And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl
of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam
there was not found an help meet for him.
- Jeremiah 1:5
5Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before
thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee,
and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
God made each animal in the world different. Because of his amazing imagination, there are millions of variations on the basic designs of the universe. We see innumerable sizes, shapes, colors, heights, weights, and structures in our world, and there are more discovered each day!
God made man as the apex of his creation. When he looked at his creation, God said that it was “Good” (Genesis 1: 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25). But, after God had made man in his own image, he said that his creation was “Very good” (Genesis 1:31). God trusted man to name each of the animals, and to be responsible for cultivating and protecting the whole of earth! Man was God’s unique creation because man is the only creation that God made in his own image! (Genesis 1:27).
To be in God’s image means that we share certain qualities with Him that the rest of His creation does not share. Like God, we are aware of ourselves as being separate from other beings. We have the ability to think and truly reason. We have the ability to speak. We have a conscience and the ability to discern right from wrong. We can love and share a loving and mutually satisfying relationship with others, a relationship that is not primarily governed by fear or the provision of physical needs. We have a soul and personality, and an eternal spirit. We have creative abilities. We have the ability to reason and make sound judgments about our actions - not trained or learned responses only, as other animals do. We can conceive of things that we have never seen before, and bring them into physical existence. We develop moral standards for behavior, rather than just allowing anything to go and engage in the survival of the fittest (thus, laws, charity, and giving exist among us).
Because man is uniquely equipped, God told him to take control over the earth, have dominion over it, and to cultivate and protect it. (Genesis 1:28, and Genesis 2:15). He put man in control of his wonderful earth.
Isn’t it amazing that God gave dominion over the earth to his creation who, in the natural, seems most vulnerable to the earth’s natural processes (especially after the fall). Man’s skin is easily broken, and has no fur to protect it from the elements, but through his God-given intelligence, he can “improvise” and make clothes and things to assist him -- shorts for a hot day; sweaters for a cool day; coat and boots for a cold day; an umbrella for the rain; a scuba suit, fins, and oxygen tank to swim underwater; and an airplane to fly - the list goes on and on! God gave man everything he needed to fulfill his duty as “keeper of the earth”.