For the next three days I am going to share some thoughts about how valuable we are to God. I hope you enjoy thinking and reflecting on this truth.

A cleaning woman at an Italian gallery accidentally threw away thousands of dollars of art by New York modernist Paul Branca when she mistook his crumpled newspaper, cardboard, and biscuit crumbs installation scattered across the floor, for rubbish.
The pieces, shown in the inset here, estimated to be worth around $15,000, were apparently intended to make viewers think about the environment.

Whoops!

Sometimes people don’t understand what is valuable.

For example, did you know that old cereal is valuable? Its true! In 1988 American cereal company Ralston released the Nintendo Cereal System, ( how can you have a system for cereal?!) Anyway its a box that came with two ambiguously flavored breakfast cereals — a Mario Bros.-themed cereal described as “fruity,” and a Zelda-themed cereal coined as “berry,” Anyone else seeing a bit of overlap there?

A 27 year old vintage cereal is now considered one of the most attractive purchases for die-hard cereal collectors (sorry, I’m still coming to terms with that being a thing). An unopened box of Nintendo cereal recently netted just over $200.
Keep your Shreddies people. In the future they could be part of your pension!!

Matthew 10:24-30 Living Bible (TLB) says this:
24 A student is not greater than his teacher. A servant is not above his master. 25 The student shares his teacher’s fate. The servant shares his master’s! And since I, the master of the household, have been called ‘Satan,'[a] how much more will you! 26 But don’t be afraid of those who threaten you. For the time is coming when the truth will be revealed: their secret plots will become public information.
27 “What I tell you now in the gloom, shout abroad when daybreak comes. What I whisper in your ears, proclaim from the housetops!
28 “Don’t be afraid of those who can kill only your bodies””but can’t touch your souls! Fear only God who can destroy both soul and body. 29 Not one sparrow (What do they cost? Two for a penny?) can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. 30 And the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

The word Valuable is a translation of the Latin word ‘carus’ which means ‘dear’ in English. But its original meaning is ‘costly, expensive, or high-priced.’ Is this how you would describe yourself?

How much are you worth? What value would you place on yourself? I’m not talking about money here. We confuse self-worth with net worth, but they are very different.
Your value has nothing to do with your valuables. Its not about how many bedrooms your house has, or whether the diamonds in your ears are from Boots or Boodles. It’s about how valuable YOU are.

So how do you measure your value? What are you worth? Have you ever thought about it? Perhaps there have been times in your life when you have felt worthless or people have treated you as though you aren’t valuable.

Well I have good news for you. You are worth something. In fact, in hard cash terms, you are worth over a thousand pounds!!! Can I hear a wooo?!
You have a huge variety of elements in your body.
Oxygen 43 3 129
Carbon 16 24 384
Hydrogen 7 100 700
Nitrogen 1.8 4 7.2
Calcium 1.0 200 200
Phosphorus 0.780 300 234
Potassium 0.140 1000 140
Sulphur 0.140 500 70
Sodium 0.100 250 25
Chlorine 0.095 1.5 0.14
Magnesium 0.019 37 0.7
Iron 0.0042 72 0.3

According to current conversion rates if you sold them all you would net about £1224.72 – based on your weight. (Some of us are worth more! Just saying!)

But actually this is not what you are really worth at all.

The American Journal of Hospital Practice contains an article that estimates that, if you calculate the cost of creating each cell in your body, it would be about six thousand trillion dollars. I couldn’t work out the conversion of that. Lets just say that:
1000000000000 US Dollars equals
£676786890000.00 British Pound Sterling
In other words you are priceless!

The Bible tells us time and time again that we are valuable to God”¦ So what makes us so valuable?
Well like the rubbish installation”¦ and the antique cereal, we are actually worth what someone will pay.

You are worth what someone is willing to pay for you.

Christ paid everything to know you and rescue you. Maybe today would be a good time to take stock and reflect again on that amazing truth.