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10/25/2000
When my oldest
son was six years old in 1999, he asked me what "precious"
meant. I said, "It means something that's very
important to you—maybe the most important thing you have. It can also
mean something that costs a lot of money. It would be like
this: If someone came to me and said, 'I want to buy your kid,' I'd
say, 'No way—I would NEVER sell my kid.' Even if he said, 'Well, I'll
pay you a billion dollars for him,' I'd still say, 'You don't have enough
money to buy him—all the money in the world wouldn't be enough to buy
him. There's NOTHING that would ever be enough to buy him!'"He was smiling by this time, and I added, "People use
'precious' when they talk about their kids, about really expensive jewels, even
about Jesus. You hear people talk about 'precious Jesus' sometimes."
I could see his little brain really working behind those
eyes now, so I knew he was putting something together and was about to come out
with some insight, as he often does. Suddenly he smiled a wondrous, awed
smile with an even bigger sparkle in his eyes and said excitedly, "Whoa!
We ALL cost a JESUS!"
I was stunned—my child had put into a simple, profound
sentence what had taken 36 years to get through my head—that, just like me, God
had a Child Who was the most precious thing in the world to Him . . . and Who
was so precious that NOTHING would ever be enough to "pay" for
Him. But my son almost immediately saw that if God gave His most
precious "possession" to buy us back, then we are each worth a Jesus—Whom
God loves and values over absolutely everything else. And the fact that
Jesus volunteered to buy us back—and did it with joy—is almost
more than I can comprehend.
Do you know what that means? That means that God loves
us as much as He loves His own Son—and
actually adopts us as His own children when we come to Him!
I cheered; I hugged my son; I danced; I cried tears of joy;
I laughed; and I celebrated just how much God values each of us .
. . and how He has the love and grace to give this understanding to my child
when he's only 6 years old! This child can get through anything in life
now, since he already knows what so many people never see—that no less than the
Creator of the Universe puts His highest value on him! And just
think of how he will value and treat others, since he knows just how valuable
each one of us is to God.
"We ALL cost a JESUS!" I don't think I've ever
heard anyone say it better than that.
And they sang a new song (to Jesus in
heaven): "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals,
because You were slain, and with Your blood You purchased men
for God from every tribe and language and people and nation." (Revelation
5:9--New Testament
)
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...for
the JOY set before Him (Jesus) endured the cross.... (Hebrews
12:2) "As
the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you." —Jesus (John 15:9)
Yet to all who received Him
(Jesus), to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children
of God. (John 1:12)
For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given . . . And his name shall be called: Wonderful, Counselor,
The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. —God,
talking through the prophet Isaiah, almost 700 years before Jesus' birth
(Isaiah 9:6, King James Version)
"For God so loved the world
that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him
shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son
into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him." —
Jesus (John 3:16-17)
How great is the love the Father has
lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! (1 John
3:1)
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