You Are Very Special To God

"Today's Devotion" For February 21, 2005

Read: I Peter 2:9-12
Isaiah 43:1-21

YOU ARE VERY SPECIAL TO GOD

"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God..."(I Pet. 2:9)

How special do you feel? Now there's a loaded question. For some of us that might seem to be a ridiculous question. For others, it's a question with profound and deep emotional connections. How we might answer such a question, I suppose, might depend upon our day, week, or month and what's been happening in our lives. Perhaps a good friend, family member, spouse, or roommate has done something very caring. Maybe someone has given you flowers, sent you a note, given you a hug and/or a kiss as their way of saying "Thanks" for something you did, or just to say "I care about you!" Under such circumstances you might feel "very special." Of course, given the nature of the world we live in, answering the question of "How special do you feel?" may elicit a response that is the result of someone having just have ridiculed you, put you down, or behaved in a generally nasty manner toward you. Since such treatment would have brought up feelings of frustration, anger, insecurity, and/or guilt, you might feel more like "dirt" than someone "special."

It's easy to get caught up with how others treat us. It's not so hard to feel "special" when someone treats us in a wonderful manner. It's also not so hard to feel like "dirt" when someone treats us in an unloving manner. Yet, while on one hand we feel wonderful because someone has treated us in a loving way, and on the other hand we feel like "dirt" because someone has been unloving toward us, perhaps what's really important is "How special are we to God?" It's really easy to miss this question and God's answer in Jesus Christ, because our sinful nature seeks the approval of others before it even thinks about what God thinks about us. We really need to ask ourselves if it's really important for us to care that someone has read us the riot act and had a scathing commentary about our ancestry. While our sinful nature tells us that what others think about us is important, God gives us a different perspective.

When Jesus came to this earth to suffer and die for our sins, God declared to us how very special we are to Him. He further confirms how special we are to Him by choosing us and making us His very own people in Jesus Christ. Peter reminds us that He has called us "out of darkness into His marvelous light" (v. 9b), all so that we might proclaim His praises. He has made us His special people without our deserving it or earning it in any way. He has put us where we can provide a witness in word and deed to those around us who do not believe in Jesus. Peter encourages us to live as special people, as servants of God, so that unbelievers, "though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us" (v.12). To our heavenly Father, each of us is "very special."

Prayer: Father, too often I measure myself and my value based upon the standards of the world and how others might treat me or see me. Forgive me for forgetting that the only standards that count are Yours, and Your standards are focused in Christ. It's through His righteousness that You see me and have declared me holy and righteous before You. Help me to understand how very special I am in Your eyes and lead me to respond in humble gratitude by living a God-pleasing life as an example to the world of Your mercy and grace. Hear me, O Father, for the sake of Christ, my Savior and Lord. Amen.
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--Pastor Boeck

Copyright © 2005 Rev. Richard J. Boeck, Jr. All rights reserved.