Read: Ephesians 3:14-21
Those of you who have read Kathryn Stockett’s book “The Help” or have seen the movie by that same title probably recognize the three words in this weeks title. One of the most powerful moments in that movie is when the nanny stoops down to the level of a little girl and tells her the words that she really needs to hear from her parents. She says, “You are kind, you are smart, and you are important!”
Those of you who have read Kathryn Stockett’s book “The Help” or have seen the movie by that same title probably recognize the three words in this weeks title. One of the most powerful moments in that movie is when the nanny stoops down to the level of a little girl and tells her the words that she really needs to hear from her parents. She says, “You are kind, you are smart, and you are important!”
It’s hard to watch that or listen to that without feeling good about the encouragement and love being shared in those words. It’s just too bad that we can’t treat each other in that same manner more often! Instead, our world so often tells us the opposite. As I hear those words I am reminded that we have someone in Jesus Christ who continually speaks this kind of love and affirmation over us.
In Ephesians 3:17-19 Paul says, “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have the power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
You see, no matter what the world (or anyone) says about you, God has an unconditional and everlasting love for you. It is so big that it is even hard for us to totally comprehend it. Jesus wants us to believe in him and follow him in our lives, and he loves us despite our accomplishments and worth in the eyes of people.
We live in a culture that often seems to look at the negative before the positive, and often we take it personally and feel unloved or attacked. But Jesus affirms us with his love, and fills us with the goodness, and the good news of God. If we have any doubts about that we should turn to John 3:16-17 where it says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
Make it Personal: I’m not sure what words you have been hearing this week or this month, but you need to hear what God is saying to you and about you in His Word. The Christian music group Mercy Me says it so well in one of their songs, “You are treasured, you are sacred, you are His, You’re beautiful!” Please don’t forget that when you hear others say something else!
Have a blessed week everyone, Pastor Glen Rhodes
