A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, “Who would like this $20 bill? Hands started going up. He said, “I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this.” He proceeded to crumple the dollar bill up. He then asked, “Who still wants it?” Still the hands were up in the air. “Well,” he replied, “What if I do this?” And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty. Now who still wants it?” Hands still went up. “My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. Because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value in God’s eyes. To Him, dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to Him.
He loved us so much that when we were still sinners, even yet unborn, He sent His Son to pay the penalty for our sins. Dirty and crumpled, He saw our worth...
Romans tells us that “ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Because of how God views sin (it all stinks to Him), we find that the ground at the foot of the cross is level. Sometimes people will say, "There's not a worse sinner than that one!" But that is not really true.
There are two extremes that people can get trapped in to believing:
1) Thinking their own sins weren't quite as bad as anyone else's, like it required less of God's mercy and grace, less of Christ's blood to save them.
2) Thinking their sins are the worst and doubting that God could ever forgive them. Satan WANTS people to struggle and feel inadequate long after the Blood has been applied. It is his goal to beat us down with negative thoughts as though we are worthless to God. He wants to continually remind us of our past, of our failures and to feel mercy has run out.
God's Word provides the answer to this dilemma, though. First, the devil is a liar, so don’t believe what he says!
John 8:44, "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." And second, God’s mercy never runs out for those who will fear Him. Psalms 103:17, "But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children..."
Philips, Craig, and Dean sing, "I was bound by the chains from the wages of my sin. Just when I felt like giving in, mercy came running, like a prisoner set free! Past all my failures to the point of my need. When the sin that I carried was all I could see, and when I could not reach mercy, Mercy came running to me!" Think of that! God loves us so much that He sent His mercy in pursuit! No matter what you’ve done in the past or how many mistakes you’ve made, God is faithful to forgive the one who comes to Him with a broken and contrite spirit. Once forgiven, don’t allow the devil to beat you down and make you feel worthless. He's a liar!
I thank God that His mercy came running to me!
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