Love = Value

When God says that He loves us, it means that He values us. In fact He values us as highly as His Son, Jesus. I used to think that loving someone meant I had to do something for them, so I was often trying to find out the things I needed to do. But now I've had one of those "aha" moments, when it has dawned on me that to love someone simply means to value them. And when I value another person I will naturally treat them differently.

Sometimes I have found my sense of self-worth from what others think of me - if I do something well, or look good, people treat me well; but if not, they may ignore me or treat me badly. But as I value (love) God, I also value what He thinks, and one of the things He thinks is that I am so valuable that He would send Jesus to die for me! I am in incredibly valuable, no matter what others say or think about me. And you are incredibly valuable too. And so is everyone else.