July 9, 2015

“From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God” 2 Corinthians 5:16-18a

“Many of you enjoy watching the PBS program, The Antiques Road Show. For me, the best part of the show is not the antiques; it’s the people. You know how the program works: people bring in their family bric-a-brac and some national expert will study that bric-a-brac, ask the person a few questions about the bric-a-brac, and then share what the bric-a-brac is worth. I like to watch the faces of the folks when the expert says, “This bric-a-brac is not some garbage your crazy Uncle Charlie picked up shortly before he died. No, there are only two of these bric-a-bracs in the entire world, and yours is worth a gazillion, billion dollars.” At that moment the bric-a-brac is transformed and has become valuable. No, that’s not right. The bric-a-brac was no different. It had always been valuable. The people were the ones who were changed.” “A New Value” Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries

There are a few experiences in our lives that really change us. You can see the change in children when they come home from college. You can see the change in classmates when you return home for class reunions. And you can see the change in someone when the Holy Spirit really takes hold of them — and really changes them. As Lutherans, we do not always like to see a whole lot of change — either in our worship experience — and especially in the religious behavior of a person. If someone all of a sudden finds “Jesus”, many in the Lutheran church may look upon them with a suspicious eye. Yet, this is what Jesus wants — Jesus wants us all to become a “new” creation — and that often requires wholesale change. But the change comes either in how we see ourselves, or we see the “others” who have experienced a change.

We have always been valuable, no matter what others may have thought about us. We have always been valuable because G*d sees us as “valuable”. Remember, G*d sees you as a valuable, loved, child of G*d right now — no matter what the world might be telling you. And knowing that G*d thinks you are valuable should change you — change how you see yourself — and change how you see G*d working in your life and in the lives of others.

Pastor Dave