I believe we are in God School until we take our last breath. I remember this particular God Lab Lesson. I will call it, “Do You See Value?”

It was a mid-morning Friday in 2000 at Civitan Services, where we provided habilitation & therapeutic service for men, women and children with developmental disabilities. I was sitting at my desk when one of our Speech Therapists came to my door and said, “Mr. Robert, don’t you think Mary looks pretty?” Mary was probably 4 years old in her brand-new yellow dress, with her hair all fixed and yet…there stood little Mary looking down at the floor. I look back on how God moves & orchestrates people & events. He gave me the idea & words, “Mary, I want you to open the closet door, look at the mirror, and say, “I’m pretty.” The first time was only a slight whisper. “Mary, that’s great but I want you to look straight into that mirror and say it like you mean it.” This time was better, but she was not there yet. “Mary, I want you to put a smile on your face, shout it out like you mean it.” This time she believed it when she loudly said, “I’m pretty!”

Pretty is an internal condition of how we see ourselves. At the core is our value. The world’s mirror will reflect favorably if you have certain things, think certain ways and know certain things & people. As we have seen the world’s mirror changes from favorable to unfavorable without notice. One moment a person is in and the next they are cancelled.

But with God…well, Jesus changes everything. Take the Samaritan woman who came to the well in the middle of the day to avoid the women of town because the Samaritan woman had no value to them. Then Jesus intentionally showed up in her life, asking for a drink of water. Jesus saw value in the woman at the well. As they talked, she recognized that only Jesus could fill the void in her life…only Jesus could provide the forever value of being a child of God. Her value was not based on who she was, what she had, thought or could do…no, it was based on the promise found in John 3:16, 17, “For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” This fascinating story can be found in John 4:1-42. What happened next is a God thing. The outcast, no-value-woman left everything she had at the well and ran into town to tell the people that scorned her…and then we read, in John 4:39-41, “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to Him, they urged Him to stay with them, and He stayed two days. 41 And because of His words many more became believers.” BAM! True Value!

Remember Mary? Some 16 years later a woman approached me and said, “You’re Robert Johnson?” Then she said, “You are the one who got my daughter to look in the mirror and say she was pretty. I want you to know, she graduated for high school and is enrolled in college and doing well. Thank you!”  This was a God Thing. God demonstrates the power of words He gives us to speak into people’s hearts. As Believers we must stop complaining, grumbling and look for opportunities to encourage people. Listen to the instructions Paul gives us in    1 Thessalonians 5, “11Therefore encourage one another and build each other up….14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Get your Pom-Poms out…Put some spring in your step…You have Forever Value that cannot be taken away because of King Jesus. We have victory because of Him. Live Life to the Full…(John 10:10)