Do you know how precious you are?

Psalm 72: 12-14 NLT "He will rescue the poor when they cry to Him, He will help the oppressed, who have no one to defend them. He feels pity for the weak and the needy. And He will rescue them. He will redeem them from oppression and violence, for their lives are precious to Him."

Dictionary.com defines precious as : "of high price or great value, very valuable; highly esteemed for some spiritual, nonmaterial, or moral quality; dear; and beloved."

If you are anything like me, when you see a baby you probably think and say that they are precious. But why do we stop saying that the older the child gets? Worse yet, why do we think we aren't precious as adults?

The Scripture above clearly states that we are precious to God. He sent Jesus to the earth to rescue us because of how much He loves us.

Most people struggle with God as a Father because they associate Him with their earthly dad. Maybe you didn't have a dad growing up. Maybe he was physically there, but not emotionally there for you. Maybe he was there and abused you. This can seriously mess up how someone sees God.

This Christmas season is about Jesus being born. God the Father gave us His only Son. He came because we are precious to Him and He wanted to redeem us. 

If you don't know much about the Jewish culture, let me tell you about some of it. They had the 10 commandments that God gave them through Moses, but they quickly added to them. There were over 600 "rules" they lived by. I can only imagine how hard life was to live. No one is perfect. There is no way a person could keep every single rule on a given day. Jesus came to release us from living that way. If we are fully surrendered to Him, if we give our hearts to Him, we are in a right relationship with Him. No need to work for or perform just right for our salvation. It's a gift!

Can I just tell you one thing.. if you don't hear anything else I ever say, please hear this:

GOD IS NOTHING LIKE YOUR EARTHLY DAD! God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. (Psalm 145:8) That's just ONE of the Scriptures that describes Him this way. God loves us. He has a plan and purpose for us all. (Jeremiah 29:11) And we are precious to Him.

Let God's love fill your heart this holiday season. Will you allow Him to do that?

God bless you today and always.