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If we look at the story of Jesus, we see that
everything He did shows us our worth. To put a price on a human person means
we would have to put a price on God. Everyone can agree that there is no
price we can put on God, yet God "so loved us that He gave His only begotten
Son, so that if we believe in Him we will not perish but receive the gift of
eternal life"(John 3:16). Jesus lets us know that there is "no greater love
than this, to lay down ones life for a friend"(John 15:13) and "God proved
His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ came and died
for us" (Romans 5:8). Because of the love of God, humanity is priceless.
Like sheep, we have all gone astray; we have turned every one to his own
way, and the Lord has laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all. Christ paid a
debt He did not owe because we owed a debt we could not pay. He did it
because we are loved and we are priceless in His eyes.
This point becomes clearer if we consider a
popular credit card commercial on television: New Polo t-shirt, $35; Tommy
Hilfiger Jeans, $50; New Timberland boots, $85; Fitted Nike baseball cap
$25. A human being made in God's image and likeness, saved by Jesus Christ
and given the promise of everlasting life, priceless.
Faith is surrendering into mystery, where we
acknowledge that we will not understand everything and some things will seem
like nonsense but with God's grace we humble ourselves and trust and realize
two things. We have a God who is in perfect control, and we are not Him. We
must assent to faith. However, as the old saying goes, you can lead a horse
to water but you can't make it drink. We must express a willingness to
accept the Love of God. God is an all powerful, all loving Father, but there
is one place that He won't go and in some ways He can't go - a closed heart.
The Pharaoh in the book of Exodus could have been a great man and saved
himself much heartache, but He had a closed heart. It is only when a person
makes the choice to open up their heart and accept Gods love that it will
begin to affect their lives. Then they will begin to become the person who
God desires them to be.
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