There is a lot of depression in American society. There is a lot of medicated diseases and disorders. There is a lot of indulgence in entertainment to drown out reality. There is a lot of drinking, drugs (prescription or not), and sex. There is a lot of hurt people hurting people, grasping at something new, something deeper, something to fix what’s broken. I’m broken. You’re broken. We’re broken. And collectively, we make up a broken society. Remember…
It doesn't matter where you live.
It doesn't matter what you do with your time.
It doesn't matter that you have poured your life into your work, and now your personal relationships are crumbling.
It doesn't matter that you’re not promoted.
It doesn't matter that your work feels unimportant, that you could be replaced, or that anyone could do your job.
It doesn't matter what you wear, how you look, how you feel.
It doesn't matter that you lost your sunglasses, lost your life savings, lost your children’s respect.
It doesn't matter that you are a decade behind the technology trends.
It doesn't matter that you've been eating the same peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch almost every workday for ten years, and you still can’t get out of debt.
It doesn’t matter that you are poor, weak, or dumb.
It doesn’t matter that your car doesn’t run, your bicycle is rusted, and your toys are used.
It doesn’t matter that your gifts to others, though extravagant to you, are viewed as second-rate presents.
It doesn’t matter that you failed your test, that you’re not going to “make it.”
It doesn’t matter that your kid threw a tantrum in public, and that unsympathizing people give you an eye of judgment or even words of distain.
It doesn’t matter that you embarrass yourself.
It doesn’t matter that your words do not flow eloquently from your mouth.
It doesn’t matter that you are short, tall, fat, gangly, awkward, nervous, anxious, nauseous.
It doesn’t matter that your spouse abandoned you, that your parents abhor you, that your friends betray you.
It doesn’t matter if you are slow, handicapped, disabled, debilitated, demeaned.
It doesn’t matter that others place no value on your life, that you are a mere nuisance in their lives.
It doesn’t matter what you have done.
It doesn’t matter that you screwed-up, lost your temper, killed.
It doesn’t matter that you have abused those around you.
It doesn’t matter that you have justified stealing from work, from family, from the government.
It doesn’t matter that you have judged others to be lower than yourself, that you justify your worth by putting others down.
It doesn’t matter that you try to grab credit wherever you can, deserved or not.
It doesn't matter that you refuse to be wrong.
What do we pursue? What are we searching for? We do not feel whole, so we are searching. Searching to fill ourselves. With what? What will satisfy us? What will complete us? A spouse, obedient children, praise for our work, money, music, movies, sex, drugs, drinking, houses, cars, motorcycles, toys, relaxation, food, technology, church, doing good things, helping others, teaching, learning more, trying harder, living better…No. A thousand times, No! You will still be vastly empty, even if you had these all. Empty. How can you fill an eternal hole with temporal things? We were built for eternity. Our soul has a vast hole cleaved in it by our sin, our screw-ups, our natural bent toward laziness, selfishness, and destruction. The eternal hole can only be filled with the eternal God.
It does matter that God loves you, values you, chose you.
It does matter that God still chooses to save you from your reckless spiral of despair, your unfulfilled groping at earthly pleasures. He chooses to love you despite what you may have done or said against him, despite where He has fallen on your priority list.
It does matter that God sent his son to wipe out your black record and your dark past.
It does matter that God promises you a home with him where you will rest from the trials of this life.
It does matter that God heals the sick, calms the anxious, restores the disgraced, picks up the fallen, honors the low, elates the depressed.
It does matter that God created all things, holds all things together, and works all things (seemingly good or bad) for the ultimate spiritual good of those who love Him.
It does matter that God creates in me a new heart in likeness to His own, able to love all people in truth.
It does matter that God is truth.
It does matter that you matter to God. You matter. You are held in God’s view as a beautiful new baby that God had to wait many years to receive, as a child that after parenting through many rebellious years finally says, “Thank you for sticking with me. I couldn’t have done it without you. You mean the world to me. I love you!” God sees you as a precious diamond of incalculable value that has been handed down many generations, that was lost, that He sought with all his effort, that was restored to Him, found and unblemished. God sees you as his only child, completely fixated on your well-being. You, His child, that can do no wrong now that you have been restored to the family through Jesus; he wants to lavish you with gifts beyond your comprehension.
2 Corinthians 4: 6-18
