You Are Special

But it never hurts to hear it, right? So I'd like to share this message from Pastor Ron with you.

Welcome to 2007! You are a very special person, so be good to yourself. We go through life instructed in humility by our peers. We are no great personage, we count for little in the scheme of things, so we are led to believe. But God thinks otherwise. Aiden Tozer wrote: "If a poll should be taken to name the six greatest people in the world and our names would not be included, we would still have the same privileges in God's world that they would have! We can breathe God's beautiful air, look at his blue sky, gaze into a never-ending array of stars in the night sky. We can stand upon the hard earth and stamp our little feet - and our big feet, too -and know that it will sustain us. We are as much a part of this human race as the greatest men and women."

So be good to yourself in this year of grace 2007. Make your own kind of music. Come alive to all the positive things in your life. Do something for yourself every day, something you really enjoy. Say what you think, people like you made in the image of God should be seen and heard too...often! You are as your Creator made you, and since He is satisfied, then so should you be. Think of yourself as an act of God, your mind a thought of God, your life a breath of God. The worth of an individual is not ascribed by law . . . it's endowed by the Creator.

Don't keep your worries to yourself in 2007 - share them with your friends. Paul said, "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2). Also, share them with God. Jesus said: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."
(Matthew 11:28). There are those who depend on us, watch us, learn from us, take from us. And we never know. Don't sell yourself short. You may never have proof of your importance, but you are more important than you think.

Spread joy wherever you can in 2007, but be sure to keep some for yourself. The joy that you give to others is the joy that comes back to you. Peter Pan author James Barrie once said: "Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves." Share the joy that God has given you: "He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy." (Acts 14:17). Let the sunshine in each day and the starlight in each night.

In this New Year of 2007 always remember that you are a very special person. A healthy self-image is seeing yourself as God sees you - no more and no less. Irwin Lutzer closes this message thus: "The most obscure believer, even the least successful among us, can hold his head high, look tomorrow square in the eye and exclaim, "I am special to the God of the universe!" You might not want to honk your horn if you love Jesus, but you could at least put a smile on your face.

Have a good week and a positive, joyful 2007 - for you are indeed a very special person.