A synagogue official came to Jesus to petition for the healing of his daughter who was dying. On the way to the official’s house, a messenger came to tell the official that his daughter had died and that Jesus was no longer needed.

Jesus proceeded to the official’s house while telling the official not to be afraid but to believe.

Upon reaching the house, Jesus tells those assembled to stop weeping because the girl has not died. Their response was laughter.

They laughed at him, because they knew she was dead.

Luke 8:53 (CSB)

We have to keep in mind that in that culture, people knew what death looked like. People did not die in hospitals or nursing homes. The did not have professional morticians to prepare the body and make all the arrangements. People of that place and time witnessed death on a regular basis.

The girl was dead . . . for a brief amount of time.

Anyone familiar with the story knows that Jesus did heal the girl and gave orders for her to be given food. Presumably, she was hungry after her battle with whatever caused her complaint.

Like the messenger who gave the news to the official, we can too often assume that certain situations or certain people are beyond the ability to change or be changed. We can give up, doubting that there is any hope for that person or situation.

Like the people attending the family, we might even laugh at those who act as if change for the better is still possible.

But Jesus is the wild card that makes everything possible. The point (or at least one point) of this story is that no-one is beyond hope. No-one should be written off as no longer able to be changed. No-one.

The challenge is to remember that if God can soften my heart of stone so that his gospel is understood and accepted, then God can do the same for anyone else, no matter how much of a mess they’ve made of things.

John the Baptist was sitting in prison and wondering if somehow he had gotten things wrong. Getting thrown in prison should not be the result of acting as the forerunner of the Messiah. Was he misguided in thinking Jesus was the Messiah? How could things work out this way?

Luke tells us:

So John summoned two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord, asking, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

Luke 7:18b-19 (CSB)

Jesus’ response is instructive. First, he does not chide or rebuke John for his doubt. John’s doubt and confusion is understandable considering his circumstances.

Secondly, Jesus responds with evidence. Jesus said to John’s Disciples:

“Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor are told the good news, and blessed is the one who isn’t offended by me.”

Luke 7:22-23 (CSB)

Jesus points to the things that could only be done by the Messiah as evidence that John was not off track. Jesus provided evidence that he was indeed the long expected Messiah

The question I have to ask myself is this, “if John the Baptist, arguably the greatest prophet sent before Christ, experienced doubt and confusion, why would I assume that I should be exempt?”

Life does not work out the way we think it should. We are broken people in a broken world and as a result walk a crooked path through the rubble.

But, in the midst of it, we have Jesus making the world a little less chaotic and demonstrating that he has the power to make things right. He demonstrated this power while walking on our planet and he has promised to return to complete the job at some point.

Like John, we need to bring our doubt and confusion to Jesus knowing that whether soon or late, he will resolve it for us.

I recently heard a story about a valuable bracelet that a man had given his wife. She was grateful for the gift and appreciated its beauty and the thought behind it. Unfortunately, she left the bracelet on a table before going to bed.

The next morning, the man was making coffee in the kitchen and heard their dog chewing on something. You guessed it, the dog was chewing on the bracelet that he had given his wife the previous evening.

The dog was unable to appreciate the bracelet as anything other than a chew toy. He did not understand its real value.

We as church leaders must be careful that we don’t emulate that dog.

We are charged with the care and spiritual feeding of the people that are members or attend our churches. We have to remind ourselves that every one of those people caries the imago dei, the image of God. Therefore each person carries an extreme value because of that image.

If we fail to properly value the individual people in our charge we are failing in our mission thus demonstrating a gap between how God views those people and how we do.

The danger is that we can view them as a means to an end rather than the whole purpose of why Jesus founded the church in the first place.

One of the ways we demonstrate the value of those in our care is to nurture them and help them become all that they were created by God to be. We are called to train them and equip them for the work of ministry (Eph. 4:12).

Are we working to develop a culture where their gifts can be used in the church? Are we watching over them to assist them in development of those gifts as they minister in the body?

I have been in churches that were so large, that I was not missed when I started attending a different church. I have been in churches where I was not encouraged to develop and use my gifts to build the body. In those situations, In those churches, I did not operate under the assumption that I was valued by the leadership.

As leaders, we should be asking the reasons why people leave our churches. Are they leaving because they don’t feel valued? Are they leaving because they think that no-one cares if they stay or go? Are they leaving because they have not been given an opportunity to use their gifts?

The author of Hebrews reminds us that Jesus endured the cross for the joy that lay before him (Hebrews 12:2). That joy is to be in fellowship with every believer in our churches.

The functional question is whether we value the people as Jesus values them.

In Chapter 10 of his Gospel, Luke records the story of Jesus sending out seventy-two missionaries out to the towns in advance of Jesus visiting them. They were to heal the sick and proclaim that the kingdom of God has come near.

The missionaries experienced success and expressed their excitement about it. Luke tells us,

The seventy-two, returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”

Luke 10:17 (CSB)

The response of Jesus encourages me.

Jesus basically says to the missionaries, “Yes, you have been given some power and by it have seen some success, but don’t be so focused on that. What is really worth celebrating is that your names are written in heaven.” (my paraphrase of Luke 10:18-20).

This encourages me because we won’t always experience success. At times we will experience loss and frustration.

The American church is so focused on measurable results. We track baptisms, attendance and giving so that we can have a sense of whether we are making progress. There is nothing wrong with quantifying these things, but we can end up confusing them with our ultimate goal.

Some are called to minister in churches that don’t experience rapid growth in any of these metrics. If measurable success is the reason for our joy, some of us will struggle to be joyful.

Some times we pray for healing that doesn’t come. We invest in people who walk away from the faith. We walk in obedience and things don’t work out the way we think they should.

Jesus tells the missionaries to look beyond success or failure to that which can never be taken away from us. Our salvation is the only fail-proof source of joy.

I write this because I have recently gone trough a period of great frustration. I was frustrated because I was focused on measuring my success in ministry. God, in his wisdom, placed me in an environment where my gifts and abilities were not appreciated and my opinion was not valued. My response was to try harder which only led to increased frustration for myself and the people around me.

I am learning that success in any endeavor cannot be the gauge by which I assess myself. My value does not come from what I do or how successfully I do it. My value comes from the one who gave his life so that I might be in relationship with him.

The author of Hebrews tells us:

Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:1b-2 (CSB)

You and I make up the “joy that lay before him.” Jesus had you and I in mind when he went to the cross.

What else do we need to feel valued?