Word for the day

People are valued

A guest speaker for a week-long gathering of Christians posted on Facebook last week. He said that he made the front page of that town’s newspaper. He joked, “It’s the first time when I wasn’t in an orange jumpsuit.” 

The man is an acquaintance of mine. Maybe not the front page, but he has been in many papers many times. Most of the articles have been about the books he has authored, his teaching and seminar leadership. However, the first times he appeared in various newspapers, it was either his mugshot or he was in an orange jump suit. 

There were years of addiction and incarceration in his young life. He was homeless and very troubled. Through no fault of his own, he didn’t have much of a childhood. After some bad foster experiences, he was homeless and very angry. 

So what happened that changed his life to where he is now a highly respected preacher, teacher, and theologian? He was encountered by someone  who refused to throw him aside. He was told that he was loved, valued, and there was a good and holy man inside of the defensive walls that were inside of him. The defenses came down, he listened and began to believe in himself. 

It’s sounds like he might have encountered Jesus. After all, his story does sound like many Bible stories. In a way he was encountered by Jesus. After his resurrection, Jesus promised that his spirit would live in and with any who will believe and receive him. 

There is an old poster with the words, “God doesn’t make junk.” But things do happen to people that can make them think and act like they are junk. The more that perception is reinforced by others, the more difficult it becomes to believe that they are valuable. 

A few weeks ago, we read the story about Jesus having dinner with the hated Matthew the tax collector and all of his trashy buddies. The good and respected people had a fit about that. Why would Jesus who was supposed to be holy and a good teacher hang around with “those” people?! Personally, I think that insecure people need to feel superior. But they are good and holy people too. For some reason they need to feel better than “those” people. 

Where do we go from here? Another great speaker I recently heard on a Youtube video said, “We stand with the disposable until the day comes when we stop throwing people away.” Looking back over my fifty-three-year career of teaching and preaching, I have encountered so many who were thought to be disposable. Looking back, I had a high school best friend who probably thought of himself that way. But the grandmother who raised him let him know he was valued. 

The Scripture passage below is from a translation called The Message. To me it teaches that God certainly does not make junk. But when we act out, we are treated with grace.

How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.

Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. 

He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.  

Ephesians 1:3-10

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Rev. John Dyer is pastor at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, Kenton.