Valuable but Vulnerable

I am poured out like water,
And all my bones are out of joint;
My heart is like wax;
It is melted within me. (Psalms 22)

Several years ago, I was thrown out of work by “downsizing” in the telecommunications industry. Prior to that, my neighbor and I had been commuting together for almost eight years. As it happened, my car had mechanical problems at the same time that the downsizing took place. My neighbor demonstrated his love and loyalty by letting me use one of his cars over a period several weeks for my job search efforts. In order to help me, he was willing to risk his “stuff” and to be inconvenienced. His actions demonstrated not only his love and loyalty but it also gave me a sense of value at a time when a company had essentially said, “We don’t value you.”

My neighbor’s sacrifice is of the same sort but on a much smaller scale than the sacrifice of Jesus for me. Think of your immense, incredible value to realize that the very Son of God let His bones be pulled out of joint for you. He did this before we loved him and while he was being hated. Think of the other person in one of your difficult relationships. They, like you, must be of incredible value for Jesus to have died for them. God wants to give us the grace of His Spirit of Love to sacrifice something of ourselves for that other person even when they are not showing love to us. It could be grace filled words or it could be an attitude of gratefulness or thoughts of forgiveness.

I have not always done the best job in teaching our sons to organize and take care of our tools. Sometimes, I have gotten angry and, without really intending to, ended up communicating that a hacksaw was more valuable to me than them or their relationship. A Thing is never more important than a relationship or a person. Things, however, can be symbols or placeholders for our feelings and values. And, when someone touches that thing it may trigger an emotional response. For instance, a lost hacksaw might trigger a sense of failure to train or organize. As another example, a perceived threat to our car might actually touch our fear of loss of freedom or independence. People and our relationships with them are incredibly complex but wonderfully valuable. May God give us grace to see not only our value and vulnerability but also the value and vulnerability of the others we relate to.

Project:
-- Meditate on how much value God sees in you to sacrifice His Son for you.
-- Ask God to help you recognize the value and vulnerability of the others in your relationships.
-- Ask God to help you demonstrate that you genuinely value the others in your relationships.
-- Pray for and find ways to bless those who treat you as not valuable.

God demonstrated by His actions that the most spiritual and mature person in a relationship will accept the primary responsibility for its success.