The fact that God created a world filled with beauty and splendor indicates to us that these are things that He values.

"God saw all that He had made, and it was very good." Genesis 1:31

As a pastor you have to see a lot of stuff.   Some good stuff.   Some bad stuff.   But one of the things that just absolutely amazes me every day is the overpowering and all-encompassing love that God has for us all.    

When read in the New Testament you can’t help but feel that the first person Jesus always thinks about is someone else.    Jesus thought more of the two young people getting married in Cana than His own safety.   So when no one expected it and when Jesus could have been accused of all kinds of crimes against the Jewish people which would have stopped His ministry before it began, He decided to turn water into wine.   

Just so people wouldn’t get embarrassed.   

When he could have just gotten a drink of water and walked on, Jesus took the time to sit and talk with a woman which by all accounts was a great and mighty sinner.   An unclean person and not someone who you’d pick out of a crowd to go be an evangelist about your message.    He forgave her sins. 

Just so she would finally feel loved. 

Jesus could have waited on the bank for His friends to finally arrive from their boat trip.   He could have calmed the storm from dry land.   But instead he walked on water.   

Just so His friends would believe. 

When it came time to pay the tax at the temple, Jesus didn’t have to.   He could have walked in and cried in a triumphant voice that the day of Jubilee had begun and everyone would have fallen down on their knees.   But instead, He found a coin in the mouth of a fish.   

Just so His disciples would know that God will provide.   

The widow who gave her last mite. 

The mother who had lost her son. 

The prostitute cringing from terror as she saw rocks being picked up. 

The lame man whose friends lowered him through a hole in the ceiling.   

It goes on and on and on.    People came first for Jesus.   He would look them in the eyes, hold their hands and for even just a brief moment in time, make them the most important person in the universe.   

Just because He cares.