I Appreciate You

W

hen I was a small boy, my father impressed upon me the importance of affirming and valuing people.  He taught me always to shake people's hands and to introduce myself to them.  Furthermore, at the end of any conversation, he taught me to shake their hands again and to tell them I appreciated them.  Now, as a little tike, the word "appreciate" posed a bit of a problem.  The word was clearly bigger than I was and I had no idea what it meant.  I only knew that it was important to my dad and that meant it was important to me.

Only later did I fully understand the great lesson he was impressing upon me at such a young age.   I was in college when it finally dawned on me exactly what my dad had taught me.  College, you know, is the time when parents suddenly become extremely intelligent and their IQ levels increase astronomically overnight. 

Appreciate means to "increase in value."  Wow!  What an incredible lesson he had given me so many years earlier.  Essentially, what my dad was telling me was that people increase in value as you tell them and show them you value them.  That means I actually play a role in increasing the value of another person.  Things, like cars, tend to depreciate, or lose their value, over time.  However, people increase in value over the course of a lifetime.

This lesson has a solid biblical foundation.  Today's scripture is short but it demonstrates in a very real way this idea of appreciating people.  2 Samuel 9:11b reads, "And from that time on, Mephibosheth ate regularly with David, as though he were one of his own sons."  So, what does this have to do with valuing a person, you ask?  Well let's take a quick look at this man, named Mphibosheth.

Mephibosheth's father was Jonathan, the best friend of King David.  Before his death, Jonathan made a pact with David, asking David to care for his family.  When David became king, he asked if there were any of Jonathan's descendants still living.  He learned of Mephibosheth, who lived in Lo-debar, a town meaning "not a pasture."  David sent for Mephibosheth.  Mephibosheth was reluctant to see the king because he probably feared David would kill him and because had been dropped at a young age and was crippled in both feet.  Instead, David provided for Mephibosheth, bringing him to the palace to live, restoring all his lands, and having him dine at the king's table.

Here, we have a small snapshot of the plan of salvation.  Before Christ's death, we were the enemies of God.  We were imperfect, crippled, and ashamed to approach God's throne. Just as Mephibosheth was marred because of his relation to King Saul, we were marred because of our relationship to sin. Because of his relationship to Jonathan, King David looked favorably upon Mephibosheth and raised him from a lowly position to one of prominence.  He took a man who had no hope, who lived in a barren land, who was lame and ashamed, and raised him to a place equal with his own sons.  What a great representation of what God did for us.  Because of Christ, we sit in heavenly places now.  We have all of God's promises and resources at our disposal because we are joint heirs with Christ. What a wonderful, glorious truth this is!

So, today, as you go about your busy schedule, remember to tell someone you appreciate him or her.  Raise his or her value today and as you do, recall that God appreciates you.  Your value to him is beyond measure!!