When Do We Matter?

Maybe you heard about this story that broke a couple months ago. Seems that a man in Belgium was in a car accident and doctors found that he was in a coma. He remained that way for 23 years, in what his caregivers called a "persistent vegetative state." One problem; he wasn't actually in a coma, he was paralyzed. If you haven't read the story, here's the link: http://http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1230092/Rom-Houben-Patient-trapped-23-year-coma-conscious-along.html . Anyhoo, the reason I mention this is that for 23 years nobody knew this guy's story. Nobody had every heard of Rom Houben. If a news reporter had gone to the hospital and seen him there, he wouldn't have written a story about him. This poor man wasn't deemed important until he 'woke up', so to speak, from his coma. Until he did something, no one took notice of him.
That's often the way things work in the world, isn't it? Until you do something, you don't matter; until you make some sort of impact, you're just another face in the crowd. I don't know about you, but I'm so glad God doesn't work that way. I'm so glad that God didn't wait for me to do something before I mattered to Him. In fact, according to scripture, I mattered to God before I ever did anything; I mattered to God before I was able to do anything. Ephesians 1:4 says, "...He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world..." Isn't that an amazing statement? God chose us before the foundation of the world. Before He said, "Let there be light!", He had set His affection on you. He had chosen to love you, to redeem to you, to irresistibly draw you to Himself.
And that's a good thing. Because the Bible says that I was dead in sins; if God had decided to wait for me to do something before I mattered to Him, He would still be waiting. He didn't wait for me to do something, He gave me life and made me able to do something. I was like Lazarus, dead in the tomb. Lazarus didn't decide to wake up and live again, Jesus had to call to Him. In the very same way, I didn't decide to live; God called to me and granted me life. And He did this before the foundation of the world.
In a world that demands that you perform in order to have worth, in a world that screams, "What have you done for me lately?", isn't it good to know that we serve a God who says, "I have chosen you not because of anything you did or would ever do; I chose you because it pleased Me to do so"? Today, rest in the fact that you matter to God; and you've mattered to Him for longer than time has existed.

Father, thank You for choosing us. Thank You for choosing us in spite of who we are and what we do. Thank You for setting Your affection on us. Thank You for giving us worth. Help me to always find my contentment in obeying You. And just as You set Your affection on me, help me set my affection on You. Amen.