A mentor of mine tells the true story of a young lady who was taking her third trip to the hospital. She was being rushed there by ambulance. Her life was in danger. Unfortunately, it was her own doing, her third suicide attempt. But something was different this time. Something happened that she did not anticipate and caused her to take heed. As she was being rushed into the ER, the admitting nurse looked her in the eye and screamed, “young lady, don’t you realize that you are precious in the eyes of God??!!” Thankfully the young lady recovered, but she could not get these words out of her mind. They caused her to begin searching for this God who felt she was so precious. Who was he? Where could she find him?

She decided to attend a church service not too far from where she lived. She had never been there before. The speaker was captivating. He spoke about this God who felt she was so precious. He explained how he loved her so much that he sent his Son to die for her. She learned how this God is like a loving Father who is desperate for his children. She began to understand that if she had been the only person ever created, this God would have still taken on the cross to save her. That night, she walked the aisle and received Jesus Christ as her Savior and Lord. She began living her life with the understanding that she was indeed “precious in the eyes of God.”

I have been a minister for over 25 years. During a quarter of a century in this capacity, I have seen a lot. I have been exposed to nearly every ministry situation there is, to every pain that can shake the human heart. And I have concluded that the greatest need people possess is the need for unconditional love and complete forgiveness. No matter what situation they are in. As the church father Augustine rightly said, “our hearts are restless until they find rest in Thee.” If people really understood how precious they are in the sight of God, so much of what holds them back would no longer hold them back. They would shake off the chains of fear, doubt, and anxiety and would embrace a life of faith instead. They would embody the miraculous reality that the Son has set them free, that they are “free indeed” (John 8:36). They would live with an inner confidence rarely seen among people today.

I played sports when I was growing up. Basketball was my sport. I played from the age of 8 to 18. During these games, my father was in the stands watching every game. I cannot remember him missing one. And the result is that I played with greater confidence. I understood he was my biggest supporter, my greatest fan. I knew that Dad was “for me” and “not against me.” He longed to see what he knew was inside of me, my God-given athletic talents, developed and expressed to their fullest extent on the court. I don’t think I would have played so long if Dad had not constantly been there, had he not demonstrated such love and care.

This really is the difference between religion and relationship. Religion values the “self-made man,” the individual who can pull themselves up by their own bootstraps and overcome obstacles through sheer strength and determination. Only a few achieve what religion has to offer. Yet, relationship invites us to surrender to a God who loves us so much that he cannot bear the thought of life without us, a God who will supply us with the strength to overcome much more than we could ever overcome without him, a God who desires to encourage and empower us to pursue all he is leading us to pursue, the life of meaning and purpose that can only be found in Jesus Christ.  As the popular song reminds us, he is indeed, “a good, good Father.”  “A good, good Father” who longs for us to understand how precious in his sight we really are.