{"id":14326,"date":"2007-07-30T13:58:18","date_gmt":"2007-07-30T13:58:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/2007\/07\/30\/day57\/"},"modified":"2007-07-30T13:58:18","modified_gmt":"2007-07-30T13:58:18","slug":"day57","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/day57\/","title":{"rendered":"Ultimate Worth"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Character Check<\/strong>\nWhat can I do today as a response to God’s incredible gift to me?<\/p>\n\n

In Business Terms<\/strong>\nIn ego we establish our worth. In the Christian context we let God establish our worth. How does he establish our worth? First, he made us unique; then he died for us. This fact is incomprehensible. I cannot grasp that Christ, the son of God, died for me. I can intellectually tell you that God died for me, but I cannot comprehend it if I could, it would absolutely revolutionize my self-image.<\/p>\n\n

If the President of the United States offered to die for me, I would expect to be interviewed by every member of the media and asked why and how it was to happen, and so forth. That would just be on his offer to die. If he actually were willing, his mentality would be checked out; there would be weeks of psychological studies on him and then there would be all kinds of studies on me. It would be one of the great events of history-that a president was willing to die for one of the citizens.<\/p>\n\n

That is the same concept when we talk about God dying for man. It’s too big to comprehend. Even if we had an inkling of it, it would give us self-worth.<\/p>\n\n

Egomania-horizontal tension-gives relative value; Christianity-vertical tension-gives absolute value.<\/p>\n\n

—Fred Smith, Sr.<\/p>\n\n

Something to Think About<\/strong>\nNothing fails quite so totally as success without God.\n– Vic Pentz<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"tax_ctp_authors":[1585,1587],"tax_ctp_books":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[154],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[131],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[156],"tax_ctp_tags":[3430,3717,4688,4802,4867,5023,5046,5226],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-14326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tax_ctp_authors-fred-smith","tax_ctp_authors-fred-smith-sr","tax_publications-leadership-journal","tax_ctp_tags-application","tax_ctp_tags-criticism","tax_ctp_tags-preaching","tax_ctp_tags-renewal","tax_ctp_tags-sabbath","tax_ctp_tags-soul","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-formation","tax_ctp_tags-values"],"acf":{"scripture_references":null},"yoast_head":"\nUltimate 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