The blog below is inspired by this episode of “What’s God Doing?”

Have you ever felt unworthy? Do you know how to receive the love and grace of God?

God gave me an illustration of this as I was listening to a teaching on “The father heart of God” tonight.  I am going to do things a little different this time and tell you a story or two.

There once was an auction that was selling off treasures. A young man watched as a box was placed of out in front of everyone. The auctioneer began calling out numbers and joy leapt through the young man as he realized that it was what he had been waiting for. He raised his paddle and called out his amount. “Sold!”  Everyone was astonished as this young man — now ecstatic — carried away his treasure, because to them it looked like an old rusted and torn apart…something. What was it anyway? A bike? How was that worth the price he played? What did he see in such a piece of junk?  “It’s only worth it to the person who sees its worth,” he said as he rushed home.

He took it back to his father’s house and set to work. He separated all the pieces, and began to sand away the rust. For some time he worked on it, tossing the makeshift pieces from whomever it tried to fix it before him, and searching through his father’s workshop for the right pieces.  As he worked, people would come by curious of what on earth he was doing or thinking. He would always answer the same, completely undeterred by their ridicule or doubt.

Finally the day came for its reconstruction: all the pieces were now sanded, polished, painted and replaced. With an expert hand he glided each nut, bolt, metal pole, and gear into place. As the finishing touches were added a crowd began to gather. A hush fell over them as he backed away from his treasure, and the bike came into view. They gasped; it was the most expensive brand of bike in the world, one crafted by the man’s own father. He had truly found a treasure.

“You see my friends, that is why I kept saying that anything is only worth it to the person who sees its worth.  To the person who sees it for what its truly worth, it is worth everything. I saw it for what it was even in a rubbish box. To me, it was worth my life’s savings because I knew it was the bike my father formed and fashioned with his own hands. To me and only me is it worth that much, unless you begin to see it through the eyes of my father.”

A second picture God has been showing me is this…

A girl weeps, as she again looks at her failures. Her sin feels like such a weight as the man before her tries to comfort her. “But how can you love me?” she wails as she looks at the blood running down his face. “I did this to you. I keep doing this to you.”

“No; you see my beloved, it is finished. My blood has already covered it. You are already made pure. It is not what you did to me, but what I gave to you. In my blood it is finished. You are cleansed for eternity. Your failures are no more. And you were worth every drop.”

If you have been struggling with self-worth or your identity in Christ, I hope these stories are as encouraging to you, as God has been using them in my life.  My challenge for you today is that you look up verses that speak to your identity in Christ. Make sure you share what you find with us in the comments, and don’t forget to watch the video about the testimony of the outreach in the DR.

Have a good week, everybody.