In his book “A Gentle Thunder” Max Lucado tells the story of Karen Hill who is an Administrate Assistant in Austin, Texas. Karen underwent surgery in a local hospital and when she awoke in the recovery room, she could hear the moaning of a fellow patient. She could hear a sympathetic nurse trying to comfort him.
“Settle down, Tom,” she said.” But still he moaned. “It’s all right, Tom. Just go with the pain.”
The man was quiet for a few moments, but began groaning again. “It’s okay, Tom. You’ll be fine.” Finally the patient spoke.
With a low, painful voice, he said, “My name is not Tom!”
There was a moment of silence as the nurse picked up his chart. Then she said, “It’s alright, Harry; it’s all right.”
It’s not easy being in a situation when no one knows your name, knows who are, or understands you. In the past several weeks I’ve had a lot of new names to learn in our church family. I try hard to learn everyone’s name. Why? Because I know it’s important. It is important to the person. It is important for me to know. But I also know people are important to God. People matter to God.
People matter so much to God, that He created them in His image. People are made in His likeness (Gen 1:26-27). Obviously, this does not refer to physical traits, but spiritual ones. God gave men and women the power to think, to create, and to choose. People have a living soul that will never die. Peter called it a spark of the divine nature.
People matter so much to God that he endowed them with great potential. He gave us gifts, talents and abilities that we might use them for the betterment of others and for His glory (1Pet 4:10-11).
There is a great quote in the movie Lion King. It comes toward the end when the young lion, Simba is living in exile, avoiding adult responsibilities, and living a life of leisure. Finally Simba is forced to face reality when he is confronted by a vision of his late father, King Mufasa. His father challenges him to take his rightful place as King of the Pridelands with these words: “Simba, you have forgotten who you are. Look inside yourself. You are more than what you have become.”
We are commanded to grow in the “grace of knowledge of Jesus Christ” (2 Pet 3:18). When we fall short & fail to accept our responsibility, God is saying to us “you have forgotten who you are! You are more than you have become.”
People matter to God because we are a part of His eternal purpose. In Ephesians 3:11-14, we learn that we are to be a part of His spiritual family, to glorify and praise Him, and to bring others into fellowship with Him. Christ died because people matter to God.
Our lives do matter. We can make a difference. We are here for a reason. In fact, God staked His very plan for man’s salvation on that fact. People matter. People matter to God. And people should matter to God’s people.
–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman
