In everyone’s life comes a time when they question their self worth. Do I really matter? Does anyone even notice me? Do I make a difference? Would anyone miss me if I weren’t here? One of the most powerful lies Satan would have us believe is that we are worthless.
Once we believe the lie that we are void of worth, we have opened up our heart and mind to the champion of deceit- and if we let him, he will fill us with lies of hopelessness until our very being is gasping for air. It is at this point of desperation that we must make a choice- we can allow Satan to destroy us from within, or we can reclaim our hearts and minds with the Truth of God’s Word.
I love the second principle of Celebrate Recovery because it addresses this very issue. Earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to Him, and that He has the power to help me recover.
In order to believe that we really matter, we must earnestly believe that God exists. Without this foundational belief, we have nothing. Our hope is based on the forgiveness of our sins that Jesus bought with His life on the cross. It is because of His great sacrifice that we have any worth at all. Without Jesus’ death and resurrection, we are all sinners condemned for eternity. When we accept the sacrifice that Jesus made and pray the prayer of salvation, we have the promise of eternal life with Him.
For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. -John 3:16
Second, we must earnestly believe that we matter to Him. This is where the rubber meets the road. Believing that God exists is one thing, but to believe that we matter to Him is something entirely different. Why would the Creator of the universe care about me? Why would God listen to my prayers? The answer is simple- because you matter to Him.
God loves you when it seems like no one else does. God cares where you go and what you do when no one else notices. God is with you when you’re all alone. He knows your pain and He knows your fears. Why?
Because you matter. And here are thirteen reasons why:
1. You were created in God’s image.
So God created human beings in His own image. In the image of God He created them; male and female He created them. -Genesis 1:27
2. You were known by God before you were born.
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank You for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous- how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in Your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. -Psalm 139:13-16
3. God knows the number of hairs on your head.
Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows. -Luke 12:6-7
4. God gives you the very breath in your lungs.
God, the Lord, created the heavens and stretched them out. He created the earth and everything in it. He gives breath to everyone, life to everyone who walks the earth. -Isaiah 42:5
5. God knows every tear you’ve cried.
You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in Your bottle. You have recorded each one in Your book. -Psalm 56:8
6. God will never forget about you.
Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if it were possible, I would not forget you! See, I have written your name on the palms of My hands. -Isaiah 49:15-16
7. God always knows where you are.
I can never escape from Your Spirit! I can never get away from Your presence! If I go up to heaven, You are there; if I go down to the grave, You are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there Your hand will guide me, and Your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night- but even in darkness I cannot hide from You. To You the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to You. -Psalms 139:7-12
8. God knows your every thought.
I can see what they are doing, and I know what they are thinking. -Isaiah 66:18
9. You were created for a purpose.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. -Ephesians 2:10
10. You are more valuable than plants and creatures.
Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for Your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to Him than they are? …Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, He will certainly care for you. -Matthew 6:26, 28-30
11. You were bought with a price.
He was despised and rejected- a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on Him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses He carried; it was our sorrows that weighed Him down. And we thought His troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for His own sins! But He was pieced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all. -Isaiah 53:3-6
12. God wants a personal relationship with you.
I have loved you even as the Father has loved Me. Remain in My love. When you obey My commandments, you remain in My love, just as I obey My Father’s commandments and remain in His love… You didn’t choose me. I chose you. – John 15:9-10, 16
13. God loves you.
God showed how much He loved us by sending His one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him. This is real love- not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. -1 John 4:9-10