Hello ,

Rick Warren recalled a time when he was speaking at a prison to an audience of approximately 5,000 inmates:

Nobody was paying attention except a couple of hundred people right up front. I was standing on the ground with no stage, just a microphone, but the microphone could be heard through the entire yard. I pulled out a $50 bill, held it up, and said, "How many of you would like this $50 bill?" Five thousand hands went up. I had everybody's attention. Then I crumpled it in my hands, tore it a bit, and said, "How many of you would still like this $50 bill?" Five thousand hands went up. [Then] I spat on the $50 bill, threw it on the ground, stomped it into the dirt, held it up, and said, "How many of you would like it now?" Five thousand hands went up.

Then I said, "Now for many of you, this is what your father did to you. You've been mistreated. You are abused. You are misused. You were told that you wouldn't amount to anything. You've done a lot of dumb things too. You sinned. You've done some crimes, and you're paying for them. You've been beaten. You've been torn. You've been dirty, but you have not lost one cent of your value to God." *

How is it with you, Open Word e-Devotional reader?  How do you see yourself when you look in the spiritual mirror of your life?  

We don't lose value in God's heart based on what we DO, what we think , or what we participate in.  Our value was established a long time ago...before we even born.  

I talk about this subject quite frequently in the Open Word e-Devotionals.  Of all the subjects that I have spoken with people about, throughout my ministry...one subject always bubbles to the surface:  "How could God love me, after all that I've done?"

It's a great question, and one that deserves an answer.  Do you often wrestle with that question?  Do you struggle with wondering how God could ever love someone like you?  If you do, let me challenge you to really think about the answer.  How COULD God love someone like you...or like me?

It's an important one, and it needs to be dealt with in every Christian's life.

Have a great day and God bless!

Pastor Mike / The Open Word 

* Warren Smith, "Pain and Gain," WORLD (9-20-14)