Believe it or not--no one else is just like you. Your physical appearance, your voice and personality traits--your habits, intelligence, personal tastes--all these make you one of a kind. Even your fingerprints distinguish you from every other human being--past, present, or future. You are not the product of some cosmic assembly line; you are unique.

But the most important fact of your identity is that God created you in His own image (Genesis 1:27). He made you so you could share in His creation, could love and laugh and know Him person to person. You are special indeed!

The Bible reveals God's total interest in you as an individual. The psalmist wrote in one of his most beautiful prayers, "I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14). God knew you even before you were born. Then, and now, He has plans just for you, plans conceived in love.

As we appreciate God's constant concern for us, we really begin to grasp the awfulness of sin. He loves you and me so much; yet how often we go our own way, turning our backs on Him. God's designs for our lives are then blocked; His mercies do not come to the unwilling.

But even here we are precious to God, for He continues to love us even when we pay Him no mind. He still sees us as individuals with great value. No wonder the psalmist declared, "How precious are Thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand" (Psalm 139:17, 18). God is not an unfeeling, cold-hearted monarch of the heavens. He feels our pains; He shares our sorrows. He cares, and He considers each one of us important enough to love.

In fact, He loves us so much that He gave His only Son to die for our sins. "Herein is love," the Bible says, "not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation [full payment] for our sins" (1 John 4:10).

Because you and I are special to God, He wants to forgive us and give us a full, meaningful life. When we trust in Jesus Christ and let Him put our lives together, the Bible says that we become "God's masterpieces, created in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:10, paraphrase). Can anyone be more special than that?

Yes, you are valuable to God! If you have never trusted Jesus Christ for your salvation, you can pray something like this today:

Lord, thank You for sending Jesus Christ to die for my sins and rise from the dead so that I can know Your forgiveness and live with You forever. Right now I ask Him to be my Savior so that I can live as the special creation that You intended me to be.