Many gals do not believe they are profoundly significant, because they think this sounds arrogant. We think we sound prideful if we acknowledge our strengths and achievements, but instead we miss God’s delight in giving us these strengths to positively impact others. We underestimate our profound significance to God and to other people.
We are infinitely worthwhile. We cannot even estimate how much we mean to God, and how valuable we are to good people. (I say to good people, because abusers will always say we are valuable but only because they want to take away our rights, not because they value us for our simple existence.) Too often the world tells gals lies, such as these: “Gals have to perform to be valuable.” “Gals have to work very hard to earn love,” “A gal is not good enough so even when she outperforms others, she is only half as good as them.” The list of these terrible lies could go on forever. All of them contradict God’s heart. He values us, even when we are accomplishing nothing exciting. Even when we are sick in bed, he finds us delightful and easy to love.
We may have grown up in homes where our parents felt we were hard to love. They may have been stingy and withheld praise, affirmation and affection. Those parents, and any others who did this, were dead wrong. They misrepresented the Father’s heart for us. They did not see our true heart. But God always does, and he always will.
In the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) the father had been scorned by his son. Yet when that son decided to return home, the father tossed aside society’s shame that said an elderly man must never run, let alone receive a son who had abandoned him. This father showed his utter delight by running to embrace his smelly son (who had lived with pigs without taking a bath.) God wants us to know he adores us. Our worth cannot be measured. And good people feel this way about us. They have a right to get excited about us and want to run up to us and embrace us and miss us when we are gone. Good people reflect God’s heart for us.
We are supposed to have a good impact on our world, and we do! But Satan blinds us to this wonderful fact. He does not want our hearts to embrace the story of the prodigal son’s dad who ran to meet him. Society said this dad’s responsibility of caring for his son was over, because the son had so badly scorned his dad. The dad did not run to his son, because he had to do this. He ran because he wanted to do it. That is what God is doing for us today.
Yet Satan lies to us and says God only loves us, because it is his burdensome job to do so. Satan says we do not delight God, and he will only love us when we behave well. That is a lie. Romans 5:8 says, “God demonstrates his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Satan tells us others should not love us unconditionally either. But there are people who will do their best to love us unconditionally. They are human, and at times they will fail but most of the time they will love us richly. They will love us even when we are sick in bed, or suffering something bad like getting Alzheimer’s and no longer being able care for ourselves or them. Such people exist, because they love Jesus and have surrendered their hearts to him. They love you deeply, because God has put his love into them. They can only love like this, because they have let God forgive them for their sins, and now they have let His Holy Spirit fill their hearts with his love which over flows into your life—or it would do so if you let them into your heart.
This is also why it is essential that we see our strengths and rejoice in them. It is not arrogant to see our many gifts and skills and celebrate them. If we do not know our strengths, how can we use them effectively? Satan lies to us and says that we would be arrogant to think we are profoundly significant. Satan lies to us and says we should hide our talents and strengths, because denying them means we are not prideful. But it is a lie. Denying them is a waste of our joy. How can we enthusiastically thank and praise God for his gifts to us if we deny we have them?
It is only prideful if we brag about our gifts and try to impress others with how gifted or powerful we are. But rejoicing in our gifts and celebrating them means we are happy they exist and we ask others how we can help out by using those strengths.
Others can enjoy our gifts and talents, as we share them. We can find joy impacting others and being significant in their lives. We are not significant because we help them under duress or out of an unhealthy sense of burden. We should not “help” others who demand more than we can give. But when we are fully aware we have gifts and joyful about them, then we overflow with a desire to help others who truly need help. We can selectively choose those we help. We do not want to do for others what they should do for themselves. We don’t want to be used. But some people could truly use our help, and they are so glad we helped them. Even when unbelievers (and back slidden Christians) do not thank us when they asked for help and we gave it, we can still rejoice in doing what God called us to do. God can give us discernment about when we can help another person and when we should withhold the help.
It is not arrogant to know and celebrate our strengths and then realize we are significant, because God loves us and gave us such lovely gifts.
What if we think we have no gifts? I have written, extensively about personalities, and I urge you to look at my earlier posts about our personalities and temperaments. These are some of God’s gifts to us. There are “spiritual gifts” quizzes you can take online. You can also ask kind, sincere people what gifts they think you have. But you do have gifts.
Even a baby who dies has had significance. Never forget the baby born to Bathsheba from King David’s illicit affair with her. Much of this story is covered in 2Sam12:14-23, but especially look at verse 23: “But now he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.” In this verse, David confirmed that innocent babies who die will go to heaven. This is not the only reason this baby is significant. We cannot even imagine the ways this baby brought joy to Bathsheba and others in his short life. But that verse has brought so much comfort to so many mothers who suffered a miscarriage, had a still born baby or had a child die before he or she was old enough to profess faith in Christ. Just in his short life, that baby has had profound significance on the world after his death, because his story gives hope that babies who die go to heaven.
If this little baby could have lived such a short life but had such significance on our world, how much more do you, in all the years you have lived? To deny your priceless value is a lie Satan wants you to believe. I invite you to deny Satan’s lie. You are priceless. At the bottom of this post I will share some Bible verses that speak of God’s lavish love for you and the great works he has planned for you to do.
Your heart may lie to you and say you are not worthwhile, not significant. Fight that lie. Remember from Jer. 17:9-10 “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.” Ask God to search your heart and help you believe you are significant and worthwhile, because this is true, even when your heart denies that truth.
Thanks for joining us in today’s post. Now enjoy the verses I promised below:
Isaiah 43: 1b -2, 3a + 4b “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned. The flames will not consume you…For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel your savior…you are precious to me. You are honored, and I love you.”
Zephaniah 3:17 “The Lord your God is with you; he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you; he will quiet you with his love. He will rejoice over you with singing.”
1Sam.2:1 “My heart rejoices in the Lord! The Lord has made me strong. Now I have an answer for my enemies; I rejoice because you rescued me.”
Psalm 149:4-5 “For the Lord delights in his people; he crowns the humble with victory. Let the faithful rejoice that he honors them. Let them sing for joy as they lie on their beds.”
Psalm 147:11 “The Lord’s delight is in those who fear him, those who put their hope in his unfailing love.”
Psalm 139: 13-14 “You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
Psalm 112: 1 + 7 “How joyful are those who fear the Lord and delight in obeying his commands.” + “They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the Lord to care for them.”
Psalm 111:4-5 “He causes us to remember his wonderful works. How gracious and merciful is our Lord! He gives food to those who fear him; he always remembers his covenant.”
Psalm 97: 10b-11 “He protects the lives of his godly people and rescues them from the power of the wicked. Light shines on the godly and joy on those whose hearts are right.”
Psalm 92:4-5 “You thrill me, Lord, with all you have done for me! I sing for joy because of what you have done. O Lord, what great works you do! And how deep are your thoughts.”
Psalm 89:15-17 “Happy are those who hear the joyful call to worship, for they will walk in the light of your presence lord. They rejoice all day long in your wonderful reputation. They exult in your righteousness. You are their glorious strength. It pleases you to make us strong.”
Jer.30:19 + Jer. 31:3b + 25 “There will be joy and songs of thanksgiving, and I will multiply my people and not diminish them; I will honor them and not despise them.” + “I have loved you, my people, with an ever lasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.” + “For I have given rest to the weary and joy to the sorrowing.”
Romans 5:11, “So now we can rejoice in our wonderful relationship with God, because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.”
Ephs. 1:4-5 “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.”
Eph. 1:8 “He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.
Eph. 2:10 “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”