According to Jesus, God so deeply cherishes you that He knows the number of hairs on your head. Science estimates most humans have on average 100,000 hairs on their scalp. If you put 10,000 people in a room, do you think you could determine which one has 99,569 hairs? Even if you guessed correctly, you’d be wrong in minutes because the average person loses 50 to 100 hairs per day. God knows our exact number at any given moment! What does this tell us? We’re so valued, He thinks about us continuously. David writes:
How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand. (Psalm 139:17-18 NKJV)
All the sand! Think of all the sand on earth—every beach, desert, and golf course—that’s an enormous amount! Science and math enthusiasts tell us that depending on the size and how tightly packed, there are approximately five hundred million to a billion granules of sand in one cubic square foot of beach. Our minds would struggle to comprehend the vast number of granules in just the Florida beaches. But think of it—if you add up all the granules of sand on the planet, you still wouldn’t have the number of thoughts God has about you!
Ask yourself this question: what do you predominantly think of? You rarely think about something you don’t value. Lisa and I have items that I discover every year when I go to our storage locker at Christmastime. I use the term discover because I forget we own it. I don’t think of these items once the entire year because they’re not valuable. However, if I numbered all my thoughts of Lisa over our forty years of marriage, I might get the amount of sand filling half a shoe box. That’s approximately one hundred million thoughts, which would amount to a thought every 12.6 seconds. A husband who thinks of his wife that often would be considered one deeply in love with her.
God’s thoughts about you outnumber every grain of sand on the planet! Are you comprehending this? Here is what’s astounding: God cannot exaggerate! Though we’ve all been around people who have exaggerated and made statements far from the truth, God cannot stray one iota from truth; He cannot tell a lie. So in stating that His thoughts about you outnumber every grain of sand on the planet, that’s huge!
Let’s take it further. What exactly is our value? Value is determined by the purchaser. My son attended a sports auction because his company was interested in buying a Bill Russell jersey worn in a championship game in the 1960s. They passed on the purchase because the highest bid came in at $1,044,000! As great a player and social justice pioneer that Bill Russell was, I personally wouldn’t have given over a couple hundred dollars. It is just a piece of clothing.
The question is not about what our value is to people, because that varies. And furthermore, the world does not have a great track record of valuing people as we should. Millions of babies have been murdered in their mothers’ wombs. What is the value of those babies’ lives? Nothing! And what about girls and women who are trafficked for sex, including prostitutes? Their value has been reduced to a few hundred dollars.
God is the One who sets the real measure of worth in this universe, not man. And even for those things we esteem, Jesus reminds us that even “what people value highly is detestable in God’s sight” (Luke 16:15 NIV). He also makes this remarkable statement: “What profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26 NKJV).
Consider for a moment all the wealth of the world. Consider the multi-million-dollar mansions, beautiful property, gems, precious metals, fine cars, yachts, and planes. It’s almost unimaginable. Recent studies estimate the gross world product to be $84.97 trillion. That is an inconceivable amount of money. Yet Jesus tells us that if you were to exchange your life for all of it, you have made an unprofitable deal!
So what is your value? Paul writes, “God bought you with a high price” (1 Corinthians 6:20). God’s bid for you—His set price—is found in these words: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16 NKJV). Wow, that’s a whole lot more than Bill Russell’s jersey! God saw our value as equal to His most prized possession. Here is the amazing truth: If we would have been worth one penny less to God than the value of Jesus, then this exchange wouldn’t have been made, for God would not make an unprofitable deal—to give something more valuable for something less valuable. Are you grasping how precious you are to God?
How enormous is God’s love for you? Jesus makes the most startling statement in a prayer:
The world will know that you [God] set me [Jesus Christ] and that you love them as much as you love me. (John 17:23)
This is almost too much to comprehend! God loves you as much as He loves Jesus! Still, you may think, He is only speaking of the disciples. That is incorrect, for Jesus clarifies, “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message” (John 17:20). If you believe in Jesus Christ, you do so either directly or indirectly from the disciples’ testimony. The depth of God’s love and the value He places on you is incomprehensible.
John Bevere joins Randy this Tuesday and Thursday on LIFE TODAY. Excerpted from The Awe Of God by John Bevere. Copyright ©2023 by John P. Bevere. Published by W Publishing, a division of Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
