God Did Not Create Ordinary Humans: We are Each Unique and Valuable to Him

We all have a tendency to live our lives within a close-knit community of family, friends, and a few neighbors. Sometimes, however, this relational community often keeps us in a vacuum. Add to that, the fact that most Christians are so afraid of failing or of making ourselves look bad that we often do not reach out to do the things that God might want us to do. In fact, many Christians think that they are just ordinary people with no special abilities or qualifications that could be used to help others or to work for the Lord. Instead, many Christians often look to other Christians to do the things that need to be done or to work for the Lord instead of leading by example. But, is that what the Lord has in mind for us? Certainly not! God has something that every Christian can do for His Kingdom. In fact, the Lord sees each one of us as a special person with a special ability or qualification that can be used for the glory of the Kingdom of God.

Sadly, even though we are Christians, we often fail to ask God what we can do for Him or others. So we may let opportunities to help or to work for the Lord pass us by. Even when opportunities arise at work or within our social lives, we are often afraid to get involved.  We let the opportunities to work for the Lord or to help others just pass us by. Some Christians are either afraid to get involved in servanthood, or they are selfish and just want to work for the Lord when they feel like it. Still others feel inadequate to do what they hear the Holy Spirit asking them to do. That reasoning is also a cop-out, because God will never ask us to do something that He has not already prepared us to do.

More Than Ordinary

Remember that God knows every hair on each of our heads. In fact, Jesus told His disciples that God cares about and knows even each sparrow in the sky. He told His disciples, “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So, do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.”  -- (Matthew 10: 30, 31, NASB).

Being valuable means that God loves us and that He created us to be more than ordinary. In fact, God does not create ordinary things, and neither does He create ordinary humans. When we look at the earth and the universe, we only see extraordinary things that God has created. From the smallest bacteria or animal to the most delicate flower, we have come to realize that God creates spectacular and amazing things; and we get to enjoy the beauty of His creation, including the birth of each extraordinary human that is born into our families. Not only does God create extraordinary humans and animals, as well as inanimate things, but He knows everything about every animate being and every inanimate object down to the molecules that He used to create them or it.

David wrote in Psalm 139 that even though we may try to hide from God, we simply can’t hide from Him. For God knows every part of us including all our weaknesses and strengths. In fact, God created each and every one of us. So, David wrote: 

“O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways.

Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold O Lord, You know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it.

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold You are there…

For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me when as yet there was not one of them. …” – (Psalm 139: 1-8,13-16. NASB).

God gave us both strengths and weaknesses

As you can see, God knows both your strengths and your weaknesses, because He created you. But why would God include weaknesses when He creates humans.  Well, it takes both our strengths and our weaknesses to accomplish what we have been created to accomplish for the Lord. In fact, God uses all our talents, gifts, and strengths to overcome our weaknesses and the fleshly desires that arise from living in a fallen world in order to help each person become all that they were meant to be and to be able to carry out God’s plans for their life. This means that each one of us needs to be a willing vessel for the Lord.

You may have heard the old saying: For the want of a nail. It goes like this:

For the want of a nail the shoe was lost.

For the want of a shoe the horse was lost.

For the want of the horse the rider was lost.

For the want of a rider the Kingdom was lost.

All for the want of a horseshoe nail.

We can each be like that lost nail, which was needed in order to attach the horseshoe to the horse, or we can use the nail to do what God has created us to do. In other words, each Christian person has been created so they can provide a contribution to the Kingdom of God (like being given a nail that can be used to nail on a horseshoe), but if we don’t rise to the occasion and recognize or do the work that God has ordained for us to do, then we are letting God down, for we are not making our contribution to the Kingdom of God. However, instead of not recognizing our Christian responsibilities, we can use the nail that we have been given by God – which is that intangible item or thing — i.e., that strength, talent, gift, etc. that God has given to each of us in order to contribute to or make a difference in another person’s life. We can then use our abilities and strengths, or even what we have learned from our weaknesses, (i.e., we can use the nails we have been given) to enlarge the Kingdom of God.

The Lord Empowers Each of His Children

I love the way the notes in the Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible explains II Corinthians 4: 7. This particular scripture is wonderful and says: “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves.” Then the note in the Life Principles Bible explains this scripture quite eloquently: “When we think that we must be strong and capable in order to serve God, we miss the point of how He works entirely. We are like jars of clay – common, weak, and valued by what we contain. It is, however, Christ in us who gives us worth, power, wisdom, and joy. And when He accomplishes His will through us, He does so in a manner that is far above and beyond our human abilities so that others will see what He has done and want to know Him, too.”  -- (Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible. Note on p. 1354 for II Cor. 4: 7). What have you done for the Lord so that other people will want to know Him too? What value do you contain in your being for the Lord?

We cannot do the work that we were created to do on our own. Only the Lord can empower people to do what they have been created to do in service to the Lord. In fact, Jesus said, “I am the Vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” – (John 15: 5.). In other words, we can only succeed in our ministry, i.e. in whatever God has asked us to do, which may include Active Relational Christian Mentoring or some other godly service, by depending on God every step of the way.

Our heavenly Father loves us and wants to be a daily part of our lives. He wants His Saved children to not only love and depend on Him, but to also do the work that He has planned for each of them to do. But in order to know what God wants us to do – what He has created us to be and do – we must fellowship with Him. How, though, do we go about fellowshipping with the Lord? Well, fellowship requires communication and time spent with the God through our Savior Jesus Christ. That communication starts with our studying daily the Word of God and then our praying daily several times a day to communicate with Him. It is only then, that we can, as an ordinary person, hear God’s directions for our Lives through the voice of the Holy Spirit who tells us what we should do. Indeed, Jesus told His disciples and us that “… the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” – John 14: 26. NASB). In other words, if we have read the Bible and meditated on God’s Word, we do not have to worry that we cannot tell others what God wants us to tell them, because the Holy Spirit will bring God’s Word to our remembrance. The Holy Spirit will guide us in all we are to do for the Lord.

Today, Jesus speaks to us through the Holy Scriptures just as He did long ago, so it is important that we study God’s Word daily so that the Holy Spirit can bring to remembrance what we have read in the Word when we need it for strength or when we need to share the Word of God with others. Through daily study, and through communication or fellowship with God we can, as an ordinary person, hear God’s directions for our lives. But, it is only in listening for and in hearing those directions and words that we can truly focus on serving God in whatever way He has created us to be a benefit to the Kingdom of God. Of course, just because God created us to be a benefit to others and to the Kingdom of God, does not mean that we have to do something that God has asked us to do. Yes, as “born-again” Christians we should want to work for the Lord in whatever way we can. But, we still have free will as children of God to make decisions for ourselves. However, as children of God we should all want to do what we can to be that beautiful servant of the Lord’s.

Using What God Gave to Us

Our service to the Lord, including the service of Active Relational Christian Mentoring, if we should choose to mentor another, all depends on our relationship with the Lord and whether or not we are willing to use our abilities for the Kingdom of God. Furthermore, the Lord knows our abilities, including our strengths and weaknesses. In fact, God has created within each us the ability to do wonderful things for the Kingdom of Heaven, no matter how small we may consider them to be. Moreover, we do not need to be afraid that we will fail, for no matter how small the task God will never ask us to do something that we cannot do. Additionally, God can even use what we consider to be our weaknesses as well as our personal or emotional struggles by helping us to recognize the growth or maturity that we have experienced through the trials we have faced, so that those trials will actually become a strength at a later time when helping someone else.

If we will just allow Christ to show us what we can do for the Kingdom of God, we will be surprised at what we can accomplish for God and His Kingdom. But, that means that we have to develop a salvation relationship with Christ in order to begin to work for Him. So, what kind of relationship do you have with the Lord? Is it just a relationship of convenience? In other words, if you are “Saved”, do you just rely your salvation ticket to Heaven to carry you through the days of your life and then you simply forget the rest of what Christ has asked you to do?  Or will you devote your life to living daily for Christ? All those who understand what it means to have a relationship with Christ, know that they have a decision to make. They have to decide to either live selfishly for themselves or to joyfully and graciously live a life of servanthood for the Lord and for others.

      God knows each of us personally and                                          intimately

We cannot hide from God no matter how hard we try. In fact, God sees everything that we do and He knows our hearts. That is because God created each of us, so He knows us intimately even down to the cellular level of each individual. Long ago, King David began to understand just how intimately God knew him, so David wrote about God’s personal knowledge of each of us. Let’s return to Psalm 139 where we, too, can begin to understand from David’s writings what David, through personal experience and through a close relationship with God, came to know about God and who God is. God gave David this prophetic understanding in Psalm 139 from his having constant fellowship with God. David said:

“O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my every thought when far away.”  -- (Psalm 139: 1, 2. NLT).

David understood that God has complete knowledge and understanding of him and of each of His children. For example, God knows that in some ways I am physically handicapped. Because of my handicap, God knows that I can’t get out in the world to be a missionary somewhere for Him. But God did not create me to be a missionary, and He knew before I was born that I would not be able to be a missionary. God also knew that I would not be a Gospel singer. For, although God gave my mother a beautiful voice to use in singing to the world about God’s beauty and love, my singing voice is very ordinary. In fact, for some, my singing voice might be considered a personal weakness. But, I know that God does not consider it a weakness.

God gave me some personal strengths to compensate for my weaknesses. Moreover, if I was able to excel in everything in this life, I might have become prideful and God does not like pride. So, even though I cannot sing well, and even though I have a physical handicap and probably other weaknesses as well, I know that God gave me many strengths that I can use to glorify and honor Him. Indeed, one of my strengths is that God created me to write and through words to be able to use my voice in a different way, so that I could also glorify Him and help and teach others about His Son, our Savior. Indeed, God gave me a voice to use to speak out about Christ to the entire world through this blog that I write and through the book on Active Relational Christian Mentoring that I have just written and published.

God also gave me other strengths as well. In addition, I have been able to host several Bible studies and help other women learn about God’s Scriptures. And, last but not least, God gave me the ability to mentor other women for Him and to help them in whatever area that I can. I am truly in awe of the fact that even before I was born, God created me to be able to do these things, and He used even my weaknesses to keep me focused on what I could do, instead of what I couldn’t do.

From Psalm 139 we learn that God knows each of us completely. And, in His complete knowledge of each of us, God knew that we could not become righteous before Him without His Son, Jesus Christ. In fact, God created us with the potential to be righteous individuals, but because we were born into a sinful and fallen world, God also knew that we would have to struggle to become that righteous individual He wanted each of us to be. That is why God gave us the Ten Commandments – to guide us and to help us do that which is right and true. But, Satan and the world fights against each of us, and humans simply could not live up to God’s Ten commandments, let alone live up to all the laws and rules that God had given us to live by. Simply put, we are sinners who can only live up to our righteous potential through the Saving Grace of Jesus Christ. For, it is only by believing on Christ and then living for Him, that we can become righteous before the Lord.

God knows, too, our hidden and sinful desires. He also knows when we are hurt or afraid, and He knows the things that we allow in this world to keep us from doing His will. But God also knows our strengths. In fact, no matter how many weaknesses that we have and how many failures we have had, or how simply ordinary that we think that we are, God has specific plans for each of us, because He knows our true potential. God knows that we have the potential to be extraordinary. We just have to be willing to serve the Lord and rise to our highest potential for Him. Even those who are handicapped or those who have been handicapped from birth, have been given the ability to be an extraordinary individual for the Lord. Sometimes, it is often in just our being that our lives touch and affect another’s life and then our life makes a difference in others’ lives and attitudes. Sometimes, just by being or existing a human can give another person hope, insight, strength, joy, etc. that they would not have ever received had it not been for that one individual that was created by God and crossed their path. Every life as worth!

In my next blog, we will look at some seemingly ordinary people in both the Older and Newer Covenants/ Testaments that became quite extraordinary. Perhaps, I should say that they rose to their potential by relying on and trusting in the Lord. In fact, each person who lived and died long ago was given the ability to lived up to their created potential. Only God knows whether they did or not. Moreover each person alive today now has the same chance to live up to their created potential through their salvation and through their trust in and servanthood to the Lord. Will you be one of those who lives up to her created potential?

I hope that that each of you will choose to live a life of servanthood for the Lord. Certainly, it is hard to live in this secular world with all its enticing pulls, and it is hard to make daily decisions to honor God when it is easier to just honor yourself by doing what you want to do. But, I hope that each of you who have committed your life to the Savior, will really decide to live for Him and do His will. I hope that you will show the world that your life is different from the lives of people who just live for themselves only. Moreover, I hope that you will choose to work for the Lord and do for others through some godly service such as Active Relational Christian Mentoring. For, even though you may think that you are getting away from having to live for the Lord, God knows what you are capable of doing, and He knows what you are or are not doing for the Kingdom of God. Remember that you cannot hide from God even if you think that you are hiding from the world. For someday, all of us will have to stand at the Bema Seat of Judgement and give an accounting of what we have done for God and His Kingdom. I hope that each one of you will be able to give a good report and will be able to hear Christ say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant”.