Daddy’s Seven Billion Plus Limited Edition Masterpieces, Part 1

Revisit with me this unforgettable moment from about four years ago:

I pause for a moment, watching my three-year-old play. My soul is delighting in her, my eyes feasting on her preciousness. Ferocious love for her brims up from my deepest core and lavishly spills out all over the place. Lily Belle. My youngest. My baby. She enhances my every day, extravagantly. Holy Spirit is right there with me, drinking her in too. “She is a limited edition,” He whispers to me.

With those words, He drops into my spirit another glimpse into His nature. Another glimpse into His unbounded affection for every unique, individual soul He has created.

“Limited edition.” Usually we think of this phrase as referring to just a few highly desirable collector’s items with very restricted availability.

Exactly! And that’s what you are. Limited edition. Prized. Highly desired. Sought after. Treasured.

Yes, there are nearly eight billion people on the planet, plus who knows how many billions more that have already lived and died since God gave birth to the human race. To us finite beings, it sure seems easy to be lost in such a massive crowd. But nope, you’re not. Quite the contrary. In fact, He has a universe-sized space in His heart, just for you!!

He’s got one for each of those other almost eight billion folks too. He’s intimately fascinated by and involved with the tiniest details of every one of our daily lives. He has also long yearned for communion with each of us individually. For this to be possible, we came with a flabbergasting price tag: every last drop of His life’s blood. The unspeakably precious blood of the eternal covenant – this is the inexpressibly expensive payment that serves as a measurement of how much each one of us is worth to Him.

Limited edition. Let’s search with our hearts’ eyes for His infinite perspective. Since a thousand years is truly like a day to the Lord – and He’s already existed for an eternity past – to Him, the entire span of human history feels like the mere passing of a week. It’s a blink. In that split second, in that blip stuck in between eternity past and eternity future, He has the briefest of interims to create all the beings that are going to rapturously enjoy Him forever. To Him, seven billion plus is actually a very small number. Once that blink is over, that will be it! Limited edition.

Fervent Aficionados

Think about the zealous enthusiasts that will camp out overnight in line outside a business (in more normal times) to be among the first purchasers of a fervently anticipated special collector’s piece. Think of the waves of excited energy that crash through the crowd when the store finally opens. Think of the customer, who has waited all night with euphoric expectancy for the ecstasy of ownership. Think of the moment that he finally holds that long-awaited treasure in hand. His adrenaline makes his fingers tremble and his heart race.

Now take that elation, that exhilaration, that thrill, and multiply it by infinity… to get at least at tiny peek at Daddy’s emotions towards you. This is a small picture of the kind of bliss He experiences over having you as His very own. You, simply put, are His eternity-long dream come true. You are His masterpiece. You are the magnum opus of His heart.

And so is your neighbor. And so is that child with Down Syndrome that you recently saw while grocery shopping. And so is the Starbucks cashier who sold you your usual coffee at the outset of your morning. And so is the baby in the womb of the glowing pregnant mom that you waved to the other day. And so is the little boy crying somewhere right now because someone close to his heart wounded him deeply with words.

And, actually, so is the careless driver who recently cut you off in traffic. (Ask the Holy Spirit to show you. Maybe she just got screamed at by her husband. Maybe she’s living through a hell of her own right now. Maybe she’s struggling with suicidal thoughts. Pray for her.)

(To be continued tomorrow!)

*********************************************************

How do things change if we look at every individual that we encounter today as priceless?