YOU are somebody!

 By Carl Kimbro, Fellowship Bible Church Rogers, Celebrate Recovery Devotional Team writer, 10/7/20



Last year I visited a cemetery in Missouri with an interesting tombstone. Instead of a name, it simply said, “I Was…. Somebody.” Research showed that this belonged to a lady who picked it because, as she told the funeral director, “Once I am gone for a few years, no one will remember I ever existed.” Perhaps she never felt valued in life? Perhaps she never felt loved? Maybe she felt she had never done anything worth remembering? The sad truth is that in just a few more years, it’s likely she will not be remembered, and her tombstone will just be an interesting memorial to a nameless woman. 

I can relate to this lady. I have often suffered with low self-esteem. As I have aged, I have often wondered how I would be remembered. I often wondered if I had value. When my sins were in control, I did not love myself. Even more importantly, I did not believe God loved me. I desperately wanted to be liked and for others to see my value. So, I threw myself into work, church and volunteering, always looking for self-worth, and always failing. It was a never-ending cycle of working hard to find value in all the wrong places. When I started attending CR seven years ago, my sins controlled me, and I was desperate to change that. 

“This is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” 1 John 4:10 

God loved me long before I ever loved Him. God did not wait until I earned His love before He loved me. God did not wait until I beat my sins and imperfections before He saw value in me. He looked at my addictions and loved me enough to send Jesus to die for me. He did not turn away from me when I was not living for Him. God forgave me, and He pulled me out of my mess through His Son Jesus Christ. He showed me He loved me unconditionally and that I was a valued child of God. When I understood this, there was no greater proof for me that I was loved and that I would not be forgotten! It was so reassuring to know that I could rest in God’s love, and I did not have to prove my value to Him. 

If you feel that you are unloved and that you have no value. If, like the woman at the start of this story, you are worried you will be forgotten, worry no more. Embrace the truth that you are a valued child of God when you accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. We do not have to prove ourselves. He loves us unconditionally. In Christ you are somebody!

Click HERE to listen to "You Say" by Lauren Daigle

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