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A prominent speaker started off his seminar by holding up a new $20 bill. In the room of 200 people, 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 with ragged edges. "NOW who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air. "MY friends,” said the speaker, “you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value even though its appearance changed. It is still worth $20." "Many times in our lives," he
continued, "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. Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely
creased and torn, you are still priceless to Him.” WHAT greater value can we hope for than the honor told in Psalm 17: 8 that tells we are " the apple of God’s eye?" Matthew 6:26 says “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” Then again in Luke 12:07, “Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows. And loving us so much, He made the greatest sacrifice to prove that love; He sacrificed His Son so that we could be made clean enough to enter His perfect heaven. (See John 3:16) OUR names will be as sweet music to God’s ears. And gentle His eyes will be as He beholds us. He will put us higher than anything He has created and we will finally see Him face to face as we are welcomed in His kingdom. There we will never tire of gazing with wonder at the Creator of the Universe and the Son Who gained salvation for us. LOVED ones who have died will stand before us in perfect health and happiness. The earthly tears that we shed will be stilled forever and there will be an end to earthly injustice, jealousy, pain, cruelty, affliction and accusation. Forgotten will be class distinctions, inferiorities, human violations, trials and tribulations and all things will be made clear to us. IN St.Luke3 15:22-23 we find the story of the Prodigal Son returning home, tattered and worn, but welcomed by his father who says, “Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. Bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry”. One day we too will be welcomed by our eternal Father, Who will dress us in Heaven’s finest clothing. We shall take our place as heirs and nobility at the table of the King. Revelation 21:04 tells us “ He will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain, for the former things will pass away.” And John 1:12 states "But as many as received (Jesus), to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name." God’s eternal welcome will spread before us in all its glorious magnificence, without cost, without limit forever. THE worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we are but by WHOSE WE ARE! God's love is unconditional, given freely to anyone who will recognize and accept it. In spite of the hardships we face in this uncertain life, we must never forget we are special and valued by God! ARE you torn and dirty like the twenty dollar bill told in this story? Creased and crumpled by life? What, then, do you perceive is your total value according to God’s unconditional love?
Mal
1:02 "I have loved you," says the
LORD.
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