“Who Does God Say I Am?” Part 1 – You Are a Beautiful Creation
/Let’s begin today’s message with the repeat after me’s. I’m going to say three short sentences. Please repeat each sentence, with enthusiasm. God made me. God loves me. God has plans for me.
For the next six weeks, we’re going to explore the numerous passages from the Bible that emphasize those same beliefs. My hope is that you will spend the next six weeks with us soaking in the verses we read and letting them marinate in your hearts and minds every day. I’ve included all of the verses in this blog post so you can easily find them and remind yourself what God says to you and about you.
Now let’s do my next favorite repeat after me – once again, with enthusiasm
I am a unique and precious child of the Living God created in God’s loving image.
A few years ago, a young lady I knew through church – we’ll call her Jenny – had just come home from her first year in college. It had been a rough year, and she was trying to make sense of all the thoughts and feelings swirling inside her.
Amongst the emotional triage support that I offered her, I ran her through the Enneagram which is a personality typing system that was helpful in guiding our conversation and giving her a way of positively processing her experiences and reactions. Turned out that she was likely a #6 or #7 in that system.
A few months later Jenny was back in school with all of the chaos that includes. One afternoon my phone buzzed; Jenny had sent a message with a simple question she knew I’d understand: “Remind me, what am I?”
I couldn’t help myself. Her question was a perfect setup.
I responded: “Jenny, you’re a precious child of the Living God, uniquely created in God’s loving image.”
She replied with a laugh and said, “Thanks, but you know what I mean!”
I did, and we enjoyed catching up.
When life becomes chaotic or we start to stress out, it can be easy for us to question who we are and even question our value. Nobody is immune from this – including people who’ve gone to church their entire lives. When dramatic life events happen – good or bad – our emotions can begin to drive us. Emotions are great passengers, but they are horrible drivers.
Don’t get me wrong, God gave us the ability to experience emotions, so moments of great joy and great sadness need to be recognized and processed in ways that help us continue on our journeys. Those high and low moments – whether they last for minutes or years – they shape us, but we can’t let them define us. Which is why we’re doing this six-week series.
As Christians, we accept and embrace the Bible as the Sacred Text of our faith tradition. We believe that the words in it – and most importantly the concepts behind those words – are messages that the Creator of the universe wants to share with us. That’s a mighty bold thing to say. And it is that bold belief that can and should keep us grounded no matter what happens in life. Our Scripture, our Bible, acts as a firm foundation.
The NASA rockets that launch people into space need firm foundations – foundations that act as temporary anchors preparing travelers of time and space for futures that can be a mix of spectacular and terrifying moments. Only recently have rockets been able to return to their foundations.
We Christians have had that luxury for millennia. And what does our foundation of Scripture say about us? How does it ground us and help us launch into our futures?
What our Sacred Text says about us is nothing short of amazing!
Isaiah 45:12 and Isaiah 43:6-7 are just two of many verses that tells us the Creator of planets and molecules personally created us, and did so to have a relationship with us.
In Jeremiah 31:3, God tells us “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you [to me] with unfailing kindness.” (I must admit, ever since I read that verse earlier this week, I’ve been singing the 1974 hit song Everlasting Love.)
1 Samuel 16:7 reminds us that God says we are beautiful because of who we are, not because of how the people around us judge or rate us.
In John chapters 10 and 15, Jesus describes Himself as a loving shepherd who has chosen to be in relationship with us and guides us to share His love with each other.
In Ezekiel chapters 34 and 37, God tells our ancestors, that He will provide for us and help us escape what holds us back. You may recognize this verse: “I will make my home among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” Through the life and words of Jesus, we understand this promise is extended to every person. As Methodists, these verses drive our passionate commitment for social justice.
When Isaiah 43 and Matthew 10 tell us that we are precious, treasured, and valued, our modern American minds automatically jump to thinking about objects and their valuations. That’s just part of our consumerist culture. The danger is that we often apply the same thinking to people, especially ourselves. We devalue ourselves and others based on flaws, imperfections, and failures. It can be easy to catch the “loser” virus and hard to get rid of it.
Years ago, I knew an older man who looked even older. He was part of our small Bible Study group, and what he lacked in material possessions and Biblical knowledge, he more than made up for with his natural sense humor and cutting honesty. Alan readily shared his lifetime of faults and failures – of which there were many; he judged himself regularly and harshly.
As I drove him home one night, I remember him telling me, “Charles, I have no idea why people like me and help me. I’ve done nothing to deserve it. I’m nothing special, in fact, I’m nothing but flaws.”
I paused, looked at him, and gently said, “Alan, years ago when you asked your wife to marry you, imagine offering her a choice of two rings – both one carat in size: one is perfect by every standard and the other one is pretty but has flaws. The perfect one is man-made in a lab identical and to the 1,000s like it; the flawed one is natural and unique. Which one would she want?”
He acted surprised and said, “That’s a dumb question. She’d want the natural one because it’s real.”
“Exactly Alan; that’s why we love you, because you are genuine. Your flaws reveal your natural beauty; your uniqueness is what makes you precious – to both us and God.”
It must have been hot that evening because both of our eyes were sweating as we continued the conversation.
Our community is filled with people like Jenny and Alan. People need to be reminded of how special they are. How unique they are. How loved they are. And each one of us who calls ourselves a follower of God, a follower of Jesus… we are urged by our loving Creator to be a vessel through which the people around us hear this Good News of God’s love.
This week, as you write down the names of five people to pray for, think about people you know who need to hear and believe that they are unique and precious children of the Living God created in God’s loving image.
Please, send them a message – a call, a text, a card, whatever. Feel free to reword that concept however you think they need to hear it, however you think they will be able to most readily receive it.
If we all do this, our communities of Susanville and far beyond, will be powerfully transformed one life at a time. And that friends, is how we unleash the Kingdom of God here on earth.
Amen? Amen!
A Blessing for Your Week
Yesterday I texted a dozen or so people and asked them: If you had to pick one flower, which one is your favorite. Sunflowers were by far the most popular. Lilacs, orchids, Columbines, roses, and gardenias were all popular. Someone said Dahila bulbs, hey… to each their own! There was even a vote for the desert cactus because “it’s a beautiful flower out in vast nothingness.” That’ll preach!
Three replies really struck me – two of which came from some friends who are not churchy people:
“Aren’t they all beautiful in their own way?”
“Each one is special in its own way and brings a special feeling.”
“The one right in front of you because it’s the only one you can really know for its exquisite beauty.”
Hear those exact words again, and this time, think of them applying to people, not flowers.
“Aren’t they all beautiful in their own way?”
“Each one is special in its own way and brings a special feeling.”
“The one right in front of you because it’s the only one you can really know for its exquisite beauty.”
Go this day knowing that you – each one of you – are more beautiful and more diverse than all the flowers in the world. You are all precious creations of an infinitely loving and insanely creative God.
Here’s your meditative exercise for the week: Spend at least a few minutes each day looking at the diversity of nature and know, know, that as amazing as it is, as intricately interconnected as it is, you – each one of you – are uniquely and wonderfully crafted by the same Divine Creator who birthed the universe, figured out gravity, made the flowers bloom, and made the atoms spin. You are such a special part of that creation, that that same God wants to have a relationship with you.
Amen? Amen!
Today’s readings all focus on our belief that You are a Beautiful Creation Birthed from God’s Love
You Are Created — Isaiah 45:12
NIV It is I [the Lord] who made the earth and created mankind on it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts.
NLT I am the one who made the earth and created people to live on it. With my hands, I stretched out the heavens. All the stars are at my command.
You Are Formed — Isaiah 43:6-7
NIV I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth — everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.
NLT I will say to the north and south, ‘Bring my sons and daughters back to Israel from the distant corners of the earth. Bring all who claim me as their God, for I have made them for my glory. It was I who created them.’”
You Are Loved — Jeremiah 31:3
NIV The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”
NLT Long ago the Lord said to Israel: “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love, I have drawn you to myself.
You Are Beautiful — 1 Samuel 16:7
NIV Do not consider [David’s brother’s] appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.
NLT But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
You Are Known — John 10:14-15a
NIV I know my sheep and my sheep know me – just as the Father knows me and I know the Father – and I lay down my life for the sheep.
NLT I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep.
You Are Chosen — John 15:16-17
NIV You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last – and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.
NLT You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. This is my command: Love each other.
You Are Valuable — Matthew 10:29-31
NIV Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
NLT What is the price of two sparrows – one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.
You Are Treasured — Isaiah 43:1b, 4a
NIV “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. … Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you.”
NLT “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. … Others were given in exchange for you. I traded their lives for yours because you are precious to me. You are honored, and I love you.”
You Are Holy — Ezekiel 37:26–28
NIV I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. My dwelling place will be with them, I will be their God, and they will be my people. Then the nations will know that I the LORD make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.
NLT And I will make a covenant of peace with them, an everlasting covenant. I will give them their land and increase their numbers, and I will put my Temple among them forever. I will make my home among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people. And when my Temple is among them forever, the nations will know that I am the Lord, who makes Israel holy.”
You Are Safe
NIV The trees will yield their fruit and the ground will yield its crops; the people will be secure in their land. They will know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hands of those who enslaved them.
NLT The orchards and fields of my people will yield bumper crops, and everyone will live in safety. When I have broken their chains of slavery and rescued them from those who enslaved them, then they will know that I am the Lord.
— John 10:27-28 (Jesus is talking to His disciples.)
NIV My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.
NLT My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me…