By Pastor Andrew Farland
The Bible tells us that Bethlehem was a place of VERY little significance. There was nothing extraordinary about it. Bethlehem was the least of the ruling cities.
In modern terms, it would be the Detroit of the United States, or if I may….the Fresno of California.
But here is what I find fascinating. God could have chosen ANY PLACE for His Son to be born! So why did He choose Bethlehem? God ascribed value to Bethlehem causing it to not merely be a “fly-over state” but a destination, somewhere people would intentionally plan to go.
In the same way, many of us aren’t ascribed much value in the eyes of the world. We aren’t one of the all-stars. We’re more like a flyover state than a hot-spot destination. We get picked last on the elementary kickball team. We eat lunch by ourselves in the library.
Once again, we didn’t make it on the principal’s honor roll. Yet God in His love chose before the beginning of time to ascribe this gracious and precious value to you and me. He places inside each one of us something unique that the world needs. Want to take a stab at what that special thing is? It’s His son, Jesus.
Today I’m talking to you!
Maybe you haven’t viewed yourself as valuable, but your TRUE value doesn’t come from the world; it comes from what God has put inside you. He inhabits your heart with His Son, just like He inhabited Bethlehem! So stop listening to the hearsay of the haters. Stop believing the bad-mouthing of the immature. YOU are a masterpiece. YOU are loved. YOU are inhabited by the best gift of all, God himself! You are valuable because God made you valuable. No one can take away the dignity that God created for you.
I believe that what is said in Matthew 2:6 about Bethlehem, would be EXACTLY what God would tell YOU today about the value He has placed in you. You are “by no means the least.”
Micah 5:2
“And you, O Bethlehem . . . are NOT the least among the ruling cities…for a ruler will come FROM you!”
Be encouraged today because God is with you.
