The earth is His! And so are you!
Welcome to “Word from The Center” MONDAY, a devotional word from the Center of our faith, Jesus Christ, with reflections on His Word. I’m Gregory Seltz. Today’s verse is Exodus 19:2-6, where the Bible says,
The Lord called to (Moses) him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: [4] ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. [5] Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; [6] and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
John Orteber said, “There is such a love that creates value in what is loved. There is a love that turns rag dolls into priceless treasures. There is a love that fastens itself onto ragged little creatures, for reasons that no one could ever quite figure out, and makes them precious and valued beyond calculation. This is a love beyond reason. This is the love of God. This is the love with which God loves you and me.” [1] I can attest to that fact both in reference to the priceless value of mere “rag dolls” as well as the undeserved value that repentant sinners receive because of the love that God himself has for all of us in Christ.
When I was young, my grandmother always made a Raggedy-Ann, or a Raggedy-Andy Doll for each one of us grandchildren. It was as a gift for becoming part of the family. She sewed each one with her own hands, hands that were a bit gnarled from age and arthritis. In spite of that, the attention to detail was meticulous, each stitch made was made out of her love for each one of us. And everyone of us grandchildren, boys included, were proud to have those dolls in our rooms even as we got older. Why? It was a sign of how much our grandmother thought of us, how much she loved us. And, even when those dolls became more raggedy than usual, we wouldn’t have sold them for any price. They were priceless because of who made them and what message they conveyed in our lives. Each of them were enduring testimonies of a love that made our lives blessed. Parents, grandparents, we have such an amazing opportunity to instill God’s “deep seated” worth and value into our spouses, into our children. (And Dads, you are more important to that challenge than ever before. We honored you yesterday and today, pray God’s blessing to you in your work as spiritual leaders in your homes!)
In a similar way, our value, our own self-worth, is priceless not because of who we are, but because of the one who loves us. The God who fashioned our lives as our Creator, goes one better. When we rebelled against His love and His law, when we decided to exchange our created worth for a sinful, self-centered worthlessness, God demonstrated a value for us that flowed from His mercy. Such a worth comes directly from His willingness to live, die, and rise again for us and for our reconciliation by Him to be again what we were created and redeemed to be.
When God told the Old Testament children of Israel that the earth was His (because He created it), it was to remind them that He had the authority to say what was coming next. His authoritative Word reminded them of their even greater worth, the worth that comes from His having rescued them from the bondage of Israel. It reminded them of a worth that comes from being declared God’s rescued people as those who then got to live in this world as “redeemed ones” so others could receive such status by grace as well. It’s His earth, Life is His, and He wants you to have that life forever with Him. In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus told His disciples much the same. He said that “ALL authority in heaven and earth was given to Him.” Why? To empower and direct His disciples to bring that empowering identity, authoritatively, to all who would put their trust in Him. Such a message continues to bless lives still to this day.
PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, it sometimes makes us afraid to hear that all the authority of the whole world is yours, the very earth is yours. But that fear subsides when we see how you put that authority in action to save us through the cross. May we use the authority that we have in this world to serve those whom you bring into our lives so that they too might know you as Savior. AMEN.
