You may have struggled at some point with realising just how valued you are to God. But God makes it extra clear to us through Jesus Christ just how valuable we are to Him, and our struggle exists only as a result of our tendency to forget just how much God loves us.

The ultimate love of God tells us everyday just how valuable we are to Him, but so many forces in the world want you to believe that you are not as precious as the Bible tells us. We think that just because we have problems or because God doesn't give us what we want, we aren't important to Him. But our Heavenly Father wants you to know just how much He values you, that He would call you not simply to be creations, slaves or servants. He has called us His own children.

1 John 3:1 says, "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him." God values us so much that He has adopted us into His family. Many realities will go against that, but there are so much realities that point us to that love God has for us too. Here are just four of the many:

God's creation

Look around you. The sunset, the air you breathe, the beaches, the food you eat and everything that exists - God made that for you. Everything that we see was made to speak of God's name so that we be reminded how loving, powerful and able our Father is. Isaiah 44:23 says, "Break forth into singing, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and will be glorified in Israel."

Our dominion

Genesis 1:26 says, "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.'" God entrusted all of creation to us because He wants us to know He trusts us. Despite our sinfulness and stubbornness, God values us enough to entrust us with everything He has created.

God's forgiveness

Everyday, we fail God and His laws, but still He readily offers forgiveness because He wants us to know that we are important to Him. If we weren't we wouldn't be existing today! But because God loves and values us, we are forgiven and atoned for.

Christ's sacrifice

There is no greater proof of God's love than the arrival of Jesus Christ into this world. In His love, our Lord chose to become a lowly man just like us, walk this earth, feel our pain and suffering, and even die an excruciating death just to prove how much He loves us. John 3:16 makes this crystal clear to us: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."