What is Our Value to God?

One might imagine that God would consider us less than worthless since we are sinners by nature. However, though God will not tolerate sin, He does see value in us as shown in at least five passages of Holy Scripture.

His Special Creation–Psalm 8:3-6

“When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:”

After viewing the enormous manifold handiwork of God, by the Holy Spirit David expresses His amazement that God even deals with mankind, let alone the fact that He had placed His creation under the supervision of man.

Public domain image courtesy of NASA

Today we can get a sense of David’s awe as we, too, look at the stars and know that there are trillions of them, along with the fact the universe that surrounds us extends in all directions with distances difficult to fathom. To get a deeper sense of that awe, one can download Google Earth, switch to the sky option, and explore the vast expanse of space.

Compared to the magnitude of God’s creation, we are but a mere speck, a thought alluded to by God Himself in Isaiah 40:15–”Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.”

Yet, Psalm 8 clearly indicates that God is very mindful of us and, since the Christ came, we know for a fact that God dearly loves us. The love He has for us is at times inexpressible. However, as we look at the Holy Scriptures, His Love Letter to us, we can see He values us, despite our wayward ways.

His Personal Work–Isaiah 64:8

We are valued by Him because we are His creation, made in His image and likeness (see Genesis 1). In one sense, humans are His children, although He would have us be His spiritual children (John 1:1-18).

Consider Isaiah 64:8–”But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.”

If you enjoy your work you will most likely have great satisfaction when you get certain tasks accomplished. There are times that your work might even seem to be a part of you. You might cherish and defend it.

While this passage in Isaiah is referring to the Jews, with certainty and based on other passages like Acts 17:28, the Scripture can apply to all people. Even if one is not a true Christian, God will shape each person, if they let Him, into a tool that He would use to accomplish His purposes.

Creatures of His Care–1 Peter 5:6-7

“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”

Though this passage was written to Christians, as we consider other portions of Holy Scripture, we will see God’s wonderful care extends to all people.

However, the extent of that care often depends upon whether or not one truly knows God by having made a commitment to Jesus Christ. If one is truly a Christian, then they are in a better position to receive all that God has for them.

For example, let us take a situation where two people, one a true Christian and one who is not a Christian, are struck with an acute illness. God certainly cares about both persons, but the Christian benefits more because he is aware of numerous principles in Scripture–like the fact that God is producing within him even more godly character as he goes through that trial.

Thorough Knowledge of Us–Matthew 6:32

“(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.”

From verse 25 to 31 we see that “these things” refers to clothing, food, drink–some of our basic material needs. We should take great comfort in the fact God knows all our needs.

You might wonder then, why doesn’t God do something if He knows all of this. While there are many testimonies of God meeting the needs of people, there are times it appears that God is quite aloof. Nothing happens or an adverse situation gets worse. While it is not within the scope of this article to fathom the aspects of the sovereignty of God, it needs to be mentioned that certain principles set forth by God do come into play.

One such principle is that man is not a puppet, but has a will. For example, Christians can send food to a country to meet the needs of the impoverished, but the supplies might be intercepted by unscrupulous government authorities. Another principle is that spiritual benefits take precedence over material benefits.

Nonetheless, God knows our needs, but the greatest of them all is that we would seek Him.

Lovingly on His Mind–Psalm 139

“How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.”–Psalm 139:17-18.

Yes, this is another psalm of David, but keep in mind David was a sinner too, just like you and I. God has these same thoughts to all of us. This should encourage us to think of Him more often.

From this passage, and the balance of Psalm 139, we see the deep love that God has for us. He does not love us for what He can get out of us–God has no needs. He simply loves us by an act of His will, which is the way we should love Him.

In so loving Him, to a degree we will understand what value He sees in us and learn to love ourselves and others.

Our love to Him is to be one of complete commitment, making His will the primary directive for our lives.

We can enjoy the deepest aspects of His love by being truly committed to Him. If you have not already done so, make Christ your King today.