Nuggets 54: Worthless?

  • B. Shelburne
  • Jan 27, 2007
  • Series: Nuggets

Did you have a parent you could never please?  Or someone who continually cut you down?  Never an "innie" in school?  Rejected by a mate?  Did you do something "unforgivable"?  Or hate yourself because of a weakness?

Just before his arrest, Jesus gathered his close disciples.  "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer."  These disciples were good at failing.  They had often tried Jesus' patience ("How long...?").  Many times they still didn't get it.  He knew this very night they would desert him in fear.  Jesus was the Son of God, yet he loved and needed them.

You may seem worthless to yourself, but you are not worthless to Christ.  In spite of criticism, he let a sinful woman wash his feet with her tears.  He spent time with "losers" and outcasts.  People sought him because they immediately sensed how he loved and valued them.  He did not endorse their sin but he looked beyond it to what they could become.  He loved us "while we were still sinners."  Then and now Jesus is in the business of making things new.

If you are rejected for the right reasons, rejection can even be an honor.   Jesus said, "Woe to you when all men speak well of you..."  In any case, take your worth from the eyes of Jesus, not from the rejection of others.

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Luke 22:15;  John 13:1;  Mark 9:19;  8:17-21;  Luke 22:28-34;  Mark 14:27;  Matthew 9:10-13,36;  23:37;  Luke 7:34-50;  John 8:2-11;  Romans 5:6-8;  Luke 6:26;  John 12:43

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Copyright 2006 by G.B. Shelburne, III.  May be freely reproduced or forwarded for non-commercial purposes provided content is unchanged and this copyright notice is included.  These shepherding messages are sent to members and friends of New Beginnings Church (www.nbchurch.com), to students and alumni of South Houston Bible Institute (www.shbi.org), and to other interested persons.

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