Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure. Eph. 1:4?5 (NLT)There is something in you that God loves. Not just appreciates or approves but loves. You cause his eyes to widen, his heart to beat faster. He loves you. And he accepts you. Don?t we all yearn to know this? Or are there times when you feel like asking God, ?Do you know who I am? In the great scheme of things, do I count for anything? Do I matter??So many messages tell us we don?t. We get laid off at work, turned away by the school. Everything from acne to Alzheimer?s leaves us feeling like the girl with no date to the prom.We react. We validate our existence with a flurry of activity. We do more, buy more, achieve more. All our wrestlings, I suppose, are merely asking this question: ?Do I matter??All of grace, I believe, is God?s definitive reply: ?Be blessed, my child. I accept you. I have adopted you into my family.?Adopted children are chosen children. That?s not the case with biological children. When the doctor handed Max Lucado to Jack Lucado, my dad had no exit option. No loophole. No choice. He couldn?t give me back to the doctor and ask for a better-looking or smarter son. The hospital made him take me home. But if you
Lucado, Max