There’s a difference between losing something and misplacing something. If you misplace something, it means it wasn’t important to you. But if you lose it, it’s valuable enough for you to try to find it. You misplace a bobby pin; you lose your glasses.

People are only lost because they’re worth finding. Think of it this way: The value of a masterpiece doesn’t go down when it’s lost; it goes up.

When you aren’t connected to God, you’re lost in many ways. You lose your direction, God’s protection, your potential, your happiness, and your future home in heaven—just to name a few. But there’s one thing you don’t lose: your value.

You’re so valuable that, on the very first Christmas, God paid the price of his Son to find you. The most famous verse in the Bible says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 NIV).

You matter so much to God that he underwent a rescue mission to find you. He came to Earth as a little baby so that one day he could die on a wooden cross for your sin.

The Christmas story reveals your value. God loved you enough that, when you were lost, God sent his very best—Jesus—to get you back.

Never forget: You matter to God.