The value of an item is determined by two people – the buyer and the seller.  The buyer actually has more weight in this equation because they are the ones that are handing over money for the item.  If the buyer feels that the item is worth the asking price, then they will pay for it.  The seller, on the other hand, sets the price and has to determine the lowest value he will take on that item.

The point of this is that the item never sets its value.  Because it’s inanimate, it cannot get offended over the seller’s asking price or the buyer’s paying price.  It cannot demand that more money be paid, nor can it argue that the buyer paid too much.

I use this example to show us that God is the one that gets to determine our value, not us.  Yet, we so often times devalue ourselves and feel as if we are nothing.  We look at the mistakes in our lives, what others say about us, how we compare to others and a whole host of other things to determine the value we place on ourselves.

As our Creator, God is the only one that gets to determine the value of a person, His creation.  The highlight of this is that God places unmeasurable worth and value on human beings.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…..(John 3:16)

In Psalm 8, the Psalmist declares that God crowned man with glory and honor. (Psalm 8:5)

Jesus died for humanity in order to show them the incredible lengths God would go to in order reconcile them to Himself as their Father.

Before a baby is born parents place great value on their child.  While I realize that this is not true in every single case, it is the way things are supposed to be.  That baby has never accomplished anything great, has never done anything of value for its parents.  That baby will actually cost his parents more than he can give back.  That baby may even grow up and disappoint his parents because of wrong choices and actions.

Yet, the parents would die for that child.  They would do anything for him.  If that child was in trouble, those parents would do anything in their power to help save their child . . . no matter the cost.

Why?  Because the child doesn’t set its value, the parents do.

That child could come to his parents and tell them how bad he is, how rotten, how much he has messed up and how he doesn’t deserve to be called their child.  The parents would tell him to stop talking like that. They would encourage him, build him up and tell him all the good things that he is and has to offer.  They wouldn’t hold his mistakes over his head. They would tell him what he can be, what they see in him.

Why?  Because the child doesn’t set its value, the parents do.

Why, then, do we do the same with God?

We come to God in prayer and tell Him how awful we are, what a rotten sinner we are, and how much we have messed up.  We feel as if we have to beg Him for forgiveness.  We tell him how unworthy we are of his love.  We go to great lengths to remind God of how messed up we are.

Some of it is because we believe that’s how he sees us.  We believe that God sees us in that pitiful state and that as we beg for his mercy and forgiveness he takes pity on us and extends mercy.  I know this is how I saw him for a large part of my life.

Sometimes, we listen to the lies of condemnation from the devil, the accuser of the brethren.  We end up believing what he says more than we believe what God says.

In the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15) we see how God is because the parable is really about the father.  In this parable the youngest son asks for his inheritance and then proceeds to go off and blow it.  He ends up losing everything — money, home, friends, and his dignity.  He winds up feeding pigs which would have been the lowest point a good Jewish boy could have ended up at.

When he finally came to his senses he decided to return home.  He didn’t feel like he could be his father’s son anymore but he believed that he could at least be one of his father’s servants.  He had set his value and it was very, very low.

However, the story has a different outcome than he thought it would.  As he is approaching home his father sees him, runs to him and begins to joyfully kiss and hug him.  The boy tries to explain what he has come home for but the Father won’t listen.  The father reestablishes the value of the son by putting on him the best robe, a ring, and sandals on his feet.  For time’s sake, I cannot explain the deepness and richness of this parable.  What we need to understand is that the father set the value of the child and it was high.

The son’s mistakes and rebelliousness did not change his value.  Neither does yours.

Please, I beg of you, if you tell God how awful you are . . . stop!  Just begin to thank Him that you have great value to him. Thank him that you are loved and worth everything to him.  Thank him for his grace and mercy.  As you do this, you will begin to see yourself as he sees you . . . valued and loved!

Stop devaluing yourself.  Stop listening to the devaluing voices of others.

You don’t get to set your value.  Your Father in Heaven does and he sees you as immensely valuable, worthy of dying for!  He would have rather died for you than to be without you.

That, my friends, is what amazing grace is all about.