By Dan Cecil
Your Pastor Speaks
Have you calculated your net worth lately? The basic formula is total assets minus total liabilities. For many their net worth is negative, but for others it could be in the millions or even billions. This is an “earthly” measure of our worth.
But that’s not how God sees us! We are the crown of God’s creation (Genesis; Psalm 8:5). He spoke the physical realm; the plants, animals, stars, and planets; into existence with “let there be” statements. But when He created us, things changed. God (Father, Son & Holy Spirit) said “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:26-27).
Things got very intimate and personal when God created us. God “formed” Adam from the dust of the ground and “breathed” life into his nostrils. God took a rib out of Adam and “fashioned” the first woman. He could have simply spoken us into existence too, but He chose an intimate, personal process for the crown of His creation. God set us apart from the very start to have infinite, inestimable worth!
What does it mean to be created in the image of God? John 4:24 says “God is spirit”. God created us with a spirit (a soul) that gives us an ability, unique among all creatures, to have an infinite personal relationship with Him. Ecclesiastes 12:7 says our bodies will perish, but our “spirit will return to God who gave it”. In Matthew 16:26, Jesus emphasized the value of the soul when He said, “what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” Your eternal soul is of inestimable worth to God!
But, because of Adam’s fall (Genesis 3), we have all inherited a sin nature and are born separated from God. The only way that relationship can be restored, so that we do not spend eternity separated from Him, is to put our faith and trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus emphasized this truth when He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6).
The Apostle Paul summarized the centrality of Jesus this way: “Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you…that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:1–4).
Do you believe that? Have you put your faith and trust in Christ alone for salvation? The offer is there for the taking! Your soul is of infinite worth to God! Choose today to spend eternity with Him. If you are already His adopted child, then rejoice in your eternal worth in His eyes!
Cecil is the assistant to the pastor of First Baptist Church, Sidney.
