You are important. It is not a question.
There is no searching for viability or arbitrary judgment to validate its truth. You matter. You are of high value and you, just as you are, are important. This is not a “Pump me up and make me feel good” point though. This is about as real as you can get. It is a point in time of realizing that God is not a waster. It is immaterial whether you believe in His existence or not, He believes in yours. He does not haphazardly toss things out and hope for the best. He has value in each and every life He allows by His grace to come into being. Even for all who might be able to know, but choose not to believe He is. Every ant, each mollusk, spiders, eels, stubborn mules and leeches all are at their level of contribution, important. You are too. Now it is only fair to tell you that even a single amoeba is important as well.
Now that should give you perspective. A worm is important, a virus, a cockroach, a flower, a cactus and a weed. Yet none of these measure up to the level of intricacy and participation you occupy in the plan and purpose of the intelligent designer and creator of all which is. We say important because it separates from the routine or mundane. It gives greater perceived value and implies greater reward. And except for pain, more is generally better. Importance is usually associated with rarity. What is had in abundance is viewed as commonplace. Things which are easily obtained are seldom sought after. That which evokes the most unusual response will be most desired. Since all of this descriptive hyperbole fits you so very well, you are important.
Do you believe God has made you a promise? Or has He made you an answer? In Habakkuk 2:3 He says “Wait for it. “. If you believe He promised, you are able to understand how He brings beauty for ashes. Just as you surely must know that the joy of what is next floods over you washing away disappointment, despair and destitution. There is nothing in the Christian faith if there is not the hope, the expectation, the trust in His promise.
With God it is future if it is not history, but promises are never unmet. We look at the many promises He made to His chosen people and so many fulfillments. If He gives you a new promise, even a personal one, even today, you trust Him for (because of, based upon) all those previous answers. It is not the promises, not the questions, not the circumstances, but the answers.
Tomorrows come to the breathing. Joy comes to the seeking. Laughter comes in the mirror. Hope belongs to those who have not quit. I’m referring to the big quit. I know quitting. Not by personal experience. In my life I have not yet chosen to quit. That alone is the sole difference between myself and some others I think of. They languish in disbelief, agony, depression and the certainty of their pessimisms coming true. As they grow older their bodies suffer natural changes and their skin wrinkles. But at the moment they quit on their hope, their spiritual hearts shriveled and wrinkled into a hardening crust of dehydrated memory. No hope beats there; no brighter tomorrows; no ability in their future because they have rejected the truths of their past. Truth did not change, it never does. Their trust in what they knew to be solid, wavered, liquefied and evaporated.
One remedy remains and it is in danger of not being able to be applied. One corrective course can be taken before the looming shoals rip the life out of the bottom of their ship because of the choice they have navigated. It is not in yesterday, it is not even in tomorrow. It is now; right now. The promise of today comes to pass in the presence of the one who made yesterday. The promise of today comes to pass in the presence of the one who holds tomorrow. Only the life blood of the true creator of the universe can re-hydrate a dead planet. Only that life source can infuse a hardening crust of dehydrated memory, restoring supple joy and hope to its rightful home.
Successful people in life often refer to one of their guiding principles as the question of questions. It exists in primarily three avenues. First, the quality of your life depends upon the quality of your questions. If you do not like the answer you receive, ask your question in a different way. Second, never ask a question that you do not already know the answer you expect. Thirdly, understand that the reason for the question is that even though the answer may be accurately known, the actions produced by that knowledge may fail to produce the desired results. The question not only seeks to derive the answer and produce the resultant choice but to validate the result of the choice in the question itself. Which question then matters?
You do. You are the question which matters. You are the question which is important. In fact you are the most important question which can ever be asked. Why should it be you, you might ask? Wrong question. What is it about you that matters? Wrong question. When will it be too late to matter? Wrong question. Where is the proof of this? Are you kidding? Wrong question. How does any of this matter? Finally the right question. And the follow up question is “Just who does He think He is?
The right question includes everything we have discussed so far. If there is an answer which is valid, He is it. He is the creator of all, including, by extension, you. He gives you the one gift that He gave to none of the rest of His creation.
Billions of Galaxies and countless stars and innumerable planets immeasurable light years distant and to none of them or any other creature on this earth did He give the ability to choose to reject His love. He gave to men and angels the opportunity to know Him and to reject Him. There are two ways to answer any question. You can either lie or tell the truth. If you side with the lie, you can say anything, anyway you want to and it is just as invalid as anything anyone else could say.
However, if you will accept only the truth, if you will answer with only the truth which has been known from the very beginning, then the importance of the question is revealed. You are important. It is not a question. You are the answer. You are the most important creation He had ever made. So important that He thought you worthy to die for. Experiencing death for an eternal living being brings a host of issues, many of which are beyond our comprehension. But this one thing I know. Whereas I once was blind, now I see. I see His truth His love, His desire for me as so very important that He felt He could not live without me. His answer to my rebellion was forgiveness, restoration and life. My answer to Him can only be wonder, amazement and gratitude. I love Him because He first loved me and I respond to His love. Otherwise I reject truth, live in the lie, and separate myself from all which is holy, all which is good.
Your importance is not measured in the strength of the questions which declare your existence. Your importance is measured in the answer of love given to your accusers. When Satan holds your sin and rebellion up before the Father on His throne, Jesus answers with His blood and the Father judges based upon the one thing which is not controlled in the spiritual realm, your answer. Have you believed the truth or the lie?