Wednesday, June 24, 2009
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Our friends bought a new horse lately. Her name is Peanut. Now, what kind of horse does that suggest to your imagination? Maybe a cute little Shetland Pony? Nope. Try again. Peanut is the biggest horse in their pasture. If you've ever seen those big Clydesdale horses in commercials, you'll have some idea of the size of this big mama. She's part Belgian, part Morgan, which means she is so big my body's probably not big enough to ride her. And she's named Peanut. Something is wrong in this picture.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Bigger Than You Realize."So when it comes to horses, what you're called obviously doesn't always tell how big you really are; when it comes to people, too. We've all been called a lot of things in our lifetime - some of them not very complimentary, some of them really damaging, and many of them just totally wrong.
The problem is we start to believe we are what other people have called us, what they've said about us. If you've been hurt a lot, abused a lot, put down a lot, you really start to believe that you can't be worth much. Or maybe it isn't what people have called you. It's the way they've treated you. So many of us feel ignored, invisible, abandoned, or betrayed by someone we thought we could trust. We start to buy lies about who we are and what we're worth. The fact is, the people who've talked about you and mistreated you have no idea who you really are. Maybe you don't either.
There is only one person whose evaluation of you really matters - the person who created you in the first place. He really knows you. Now, listen to what God calls you in our word for today from the Word of God in Ephesians 2:10. He says, "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do." Wow! God's workmanship! That's the right name to call you. And nothing you've been through, nothing that has been done to you or by you, can change who you really are. And you don't need to miss who you are or what you're here for any longer!
The sad thing is that we've missed those "good works" that "God prepared in advance for us to do." We haven't followed the Creator's plans for us. We've made up our own, which has left us separated from the very One who gives us our worth. And that's why it all feels so hollow and so lonely so much of the time. God had every right to let us live and die like this, away from Him by our own sinful choice, but He didn't. He loves us too much. In the Bible's words, "God so loved you that He gave His one and only Son," and He gave Him to die for you to take all the punishment for all the stuff you have done that has broken His heart.
And the day you open up to this "unloseable" love of Jesus Christ is the day you begin to experience how much you're really worth. He thought you were worth dying for. The question is, "Do you think He's worth living for?" Especially since the Bible says He's the One you were made by and made for (Colossians 1:16). Your personal love relationship with the One who loves you most begins when you tell Him, "Jesus, I resign running my own life. I was made by you and for you. You died to pay for my sins, and beginning this very day, I am yours." Now, if that's what you want, you tell Him that today.
Let me encourage you to visit our website sometime in the next few hours. A lot of people have gone there and found the information that really helped them be sure they had begun a relationship with Jesus Christ. If you have any doubt about that; if you want to experience His love for yourself, I think there might be some things there that will help and encourage you right now. It's YoursForLife.net. A lot of the information is in the booklet I wrote, too. You can call for that toll free if you'd rather at 877-741-1200.
He's the home your heart has always been looking for.