Valued in His Eyes - Steve Martin, Love For His People

Valued in His Eyes

“As for me, You uphold me in my integrity, and You place me in Your presence forever.” 

Psalm 41:12, NASB

It used to be that a penny was worth something. In fact, I remember when, as a little kid, even as old as 10, my dad would bend down to pick up a penny off the sidewalk that had fallen from another.

“To some people, this isn’t worth the effort. But to me it is”, he would say. He knew what it was like to be poor, and made sure his family never was. Mom said he would tell her, “I work two jobs, 60 hours a week, so my family and I will never be poor again.” Louis Martin gave his all for his family.

As of 2025, each penny costs $.03 to make. So, the government is planning on doing away with it. I guess it is a good thing, then, that I took my pennies to the coin machine at Food Lion to cash them in last week. No one will pick them up off the street again. There will not be any.

Being thankful that the Lord continually shows His love and how He values us is so important to our self-esteem. Without His ongoing affirmation, approval, and encouragement towards us, the lies of the world would beat us down to the point that we give up, turn back, or simply quit.

We are valued in His eyes. He created us. He wants us to be with Him, in His family, now and forever more.

He proved it then, and He proves it now as we spend time with Him.

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” Galatians 2:20, NASB

We are worth more than a penny. We are worth the life the Lord Yeshua (Jesus) freely gives us as we abide with Him in our daily walk. Keep on walking with Him as your guide.

 Ahava and Shalom,

Steve Martin

We welcome your prayers and support as we together bless Israel and His people in their Land.

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Love For His People Ministry 12120 Woodside Falls Rd. Pineville, North Carolina, USA

Message #11 in my new series (2025): “Valued in His Eyes" - Aug. 12, 2025

#ValuedinHisEyes #SteveMartin #love #LoveForHisPeople #LouisMartin #poor #Jesus #Yeshua #JesusChrist #Jerusalem #grapes #grapevine #penny

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR OR LOVE YOURSELF? Cathy Hargett, Highway To Zion

 

                                             LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR OR LOVE YOURSELF?

By:  Cathy Hargett

August 3, 2025

 In a world where there seems to be no lack of people loving themselves and exalting themselves, perhaps the second greatest commandment makes sense - or maybe not?  Are we supposed to love ourselves first and then our neighbor?

Here is how Yeshua answered when one of the Torah scholars asked Him which is the greatest commandment in the Torah:

“And He said to him, ‘You shall love Adonai your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.”

(Matthew 22:37)

And then Yeshua went further and told the Torah scholar the second greatest commandment:

“And the second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The entire Torah and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’ ”

(Matthew 22:38-40)

Note that Yeshua said that these two commandments are the foundation for the entire Torah. In other words, without both of them, you do not have the Torah in its completeness, in its fulfillment.

And remember this, Yeshua said He did not come to abolish Torah but to fulfill it with His very life:

“Do not think that I came to abolish the Torah or the Prophets! I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.”

(Matthew 5:17)

To go right to the point, with the question “are we to love ourselves first and then love our neighbor”?  I think not.  The main reason for my conclusion is that Yeshua did not say there are three greatest commandments; i.e., “love God, love yourself, and love your neighbor”. No, He said there were two greatest commandments – “love God and love your neighbor as yourself”.

Getting to this conclusion was not without much prayer and study, especially because of the strain to filter out all the background noise and the voices “in the world”, and even in Christian psychology and counseling. So many of these voices are crying out to us with human logic, encouraging us to embrace “self-esteem” and “self-care” and to build ourselves up. But God says we are to build ourselves up in our most holy faith (Jude 20). It’s the Word that divides our flesh from our spirit (Hebrews 4:12). This is how we can hear the Lord. The answer for us, as followers of Yeshua, is in the Word, not in the world.

From what I have learned from the Scriptures, mankind does not need to practice ways to love themselves. It’s our default value. It’s clear in this passage:

“After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body….”

(Ephesians 5:29)

To be clear, the Lord made us in His image. This is our identity, but it is not the same as self-love. Neither are we to be self-deprecating. We are to respect and honor everything He has made. We honor Him who lives inside our mortal flesh. He gives us the responsibility to take care of His creation, which does include our own bodies. We are to steward everything that He has given us. He values us, and we are in awe that we are fearfully and wonderfully made by God. In this regard, yes, we have our identity. And in a manner of speaking, we can say, we love what He has made and we take care of it.

This is very different from being “lovers of ourselves”.  God makes this distinction in the Scripture when He says that being lovers of ourselves is not a good thing:

“..There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God - ”

(II Timothy 3:2)

We are admonished throughout the Scripture not to love ourselves but to love others. This is the lesson we are taught, not the lesson about loving ourselves. We are to think of ourselves with “sober judgment”, to understand who we are, not to despise ourselves or to exalt ourselves, but to give freely of all that He has created us to be:

“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.”

(Romans 12:3)

 He is teaching us how to do what He has required – in Him:

 “with humility, consider others as more important than yourselves, looking out not only for your own interests but also for the interests of others.”

(Philippians 3:3-4)

“Let your attitude toward one another be governed by your being in union with the Messiah Yeshua.”

(Philippians 2:5)

And let’s not miss that Yeshua is the fulfillment of Torah. He desires us to walk in this way, too. In this way we join our Rabbi in reflecting Torah and the Prophets:

“So in all things, do to others what you would want them to do to you – for this is the Torah and the Prophets.”

(Matthew 7:12)

Finally, and amazingly, let’s really listen to what Yeshua told us about the first and second commandments. He said that the “second commandment is like the first commandment”.

“And the second is like it..”

(Matthew 22:39)

This is the major key to the revelation of what it means to love our neighbor as ourselves. And it answers the question, “Are we to love ourselves”? 

I prayerfully asked Him, “in what way is the second commandment like the first commandment?”. “What do You mean that the second is like it?” He explained this to me with these words “love Me with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor the same way that you love Me, with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength”. When you do this, you will fulfill all the Torah and the Prophets.

I am remembering, too, when Yeshua gave instructions to His disciples. He said, “a new commandment I give to you – to love one another..”. He is, once again, revealing the “Transcendent Torah”, higher than we’ve understood Scripture before. Not only are we to love Him, to love God, but we are also to love others the same way we love Him, with everything we’ve got.

There is only one way we can do this. We must allow Him to love us, to receive His great love for us. It’s not self-love that we need to nurture. It is the love of God inside of us that we must have in order to obey the first and second greatest commandments. In this way, yes, we do love ourselves, as the expression of Messiah inside of us, and only because He first loved us and chose us to be His. He is inside of us. He dwells here. In this way we understand that His life abides inside these mortal bodies, His temple. Because of this miracle, we are empowered to love others as we love ourselves.

Cathy Hargett
Highway to Zion Ministries
http://www.highwaytozion.org

#LOVEYOURNEIGHBOR #LOVEYOURSELF #CathyHargett #HighwayToZion #Jesus #Torah #Yeshua #Scripture #love

"Family" - Steve Martin, Love For His People

 

Family

 

“All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, And all the families of the nations will worship before You." Psalm 22:27, NAS

Sitting on the back porch of my brother Tom Martin’s house in Cedar Falls, Iowa, as the sun rises in the east, brings back memories of our days growing up in Cedar Falls, Iowa, just north up the road on Hwy. 218 an hour or so. 

Tom and I, along with our little brother Rob, had five sisters between us. Sue, Mary, Colleen, Janet, and Lynn completed the sibling count of eight. Dad and Mom raised a good Catholic family during the 1950s and 1960s.

Family and the memories they bring can be a solid foundation for each of us. Though some are happy to get on with life, leaving their childhood years behind with all the trauma and conflict that went with it, the Lord desires His children to be raised in a good family, with a loving Dad and Mom in the home, and children that honor, respect, and cherish their parents, brothers and sisters.

"Children, do what your parents tell you. This is only right. Honor your father and mother” is the first commandment that has a promise attached to it, namely, “so you will live well and have a long life.” Ephesians 6:2-3, The Message

I could speak on the problems destroying family life today, as there are many, but I choose to consider the blessings that do come when men and women have families, seeking to follow the Lord and His ways.

There are good families in our society these days. There are those who have committed themselves to know the Lord Jesus (Yeshua) and walk in His ways, as He intended.

The man and woman who come together, in godly marriage as set by the Creator, will in turn give themselves, in sacrifice, to have children, with the full intent of raising them to know and fear the Lord.

They will seek to forgo worldly pleasures, to lay down their needs and wants for the sake of the ones the Lord has given into their care.

These men and women believe that children are a blessing from God. They “go without”, as my parents did, to give more to the boys and girls they have in their care, so they too learn the purpose of family and the love it expresses from the Father’s heart.

A society with strong families has the strength to resist ungodly principles, withstand attacks from unruly individuals, and the fortitude to stand firm when forces rise against them from all sides.

I am always encouraged when I see young Israeli families walking the streets of Jerusalem, carriages being pushed by fathers, mothers walking alongside in their place of dignity, honor, and love for all.

This is the intent of our heavenly Father, who looks down with pleasure and enjoyment Himself on those who choose to walk in His plans and purposes.

For those of us in our later years, we can encourage the younger generations to give themselves to having families, as the Lord purposed. To live for others whom He would place in their care. To reveal His heart to the nations, through the prime example of godly families.

I also want to thank you, who are now grandparents, for the tremendous sacrifices you made years ago, giving of yourselves for your children, and who now enjoy the fruit of your labor as your grandchildren rise up among you.

“Well done, good and faithful servants!”

Ahava and Shalom,

Steve Martin

P.S. Laurie and I are volunteering in Jerusalem, Israel, with Christian Friends of Israel for three months, Oct. 15, 2025 – Jan. 12, 2026. Read all about it! Steve & Laurie - Time Coming for Jerusalem Volunteers.

We welcome your prayers and support as we together bless Israel and His people in their Land.

In addition, we are indeed grateful for your support, as it costs this ministry to send these messages each week. For example, Love For His People’s Constant Contact subscription is $45/month alone. We also have no paid staff to prepare them, but it does cost. To continue sending these weekly messages, I need your help. Thank you.

Contributions are welcome online by clicking on our webpage, when you look for the little DONATE button on each side column, Love For His People uses.

 Are you new to these messages, or has another shared them with you? Sign up here to receive it directly in your email InBox. Click on the nice, full of brew coffee mug with the Love For His People logo on it, found on each side column of the webpage. You will be glad you did! Sign Up for Steve Martin's Messages

Love For His People Ministry 12120 Woodside Falls Rd. Pineville, North Carolina, USA

Message #9 in my new series (2025): "Family" July 27, 2025

#Family #SteveMartin #LoveForHisPeople #Jesus #God #love #parents #grandparents #father #mother #servants

I just want to be where You are.

I just want to be wherever the Lord leads me; 

That is where I want to be. 

Nowhere else. Nothing else. Just to be in His presence…

I just want to be where You are, Lord.

Love Broke Through by Steve Martin

 

Love Broke Through by Steve Martin

“The amazing grace of the Master, Jesus Christ, the extravagant love of God, the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit, be with all of you.” 2 Corinthians 13:14, THE MESSAGE 

 

When I returned to the place where I had once been, it was different. Or maybe my heart had been changed, coming back with a different one, or rather, one that had been enlivened once again, and prepared better to shine again. 

I know Danny Gokey sings about that. Both Keith Green and Phil Keaggy had also. 

Love had broken through, and now the Lord had given me once again a place to share His love, which I may not have done quite so well before. So now I have been given the opportunity to be there once again. 

There are places, people, opportunities in your life where the Lord once had you, and then you left, thinking that that wasn’t the way it was supposed to be, that if only you had done better, been wiser, or simply let His Holy Spirit lead as He can, your impact may have been a bit more everlasting. 

I want to assure you that even when you think it didn’t go right, when you thought you had messed up, that surely goodness could have been more good in the place of your footprint…the Lord had made His mark with the light you did share, and it was going to be better because of you. 

Love had broken through. When it seems most dark, the small flame which did come forth from your heart did shine; the seed was planted, and life did grow as a result. 

We don’t always know what is going on in the minds of those around us, who have been through a lot, seen a lot, and experienced a bit more than at times they could handle. But when we share the love of God, through a simple smile, a caring word, an act that otherwise might go unnoticed, our Lord Jesus Christ uses that to touch lives. And if you get the opportunity to go back, you will see just how much your life did affect them. If you don’t, then let it shine where He has you now. 

“…in all these things we are superconquerors, through the One who has loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers, neither what exists nor what is coming, neither powers above nor powers below, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which comes to us through the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord.” Romans 8:37-39, Complete Jewish Bible 

By the love of the Father, through the outworking of the Holy Spirit, we have been given a measure of His grace and mercy to share to a dying world, a world which many not even want His love. But there will come a time when they certainly realize they need it, and Him Above All (another great song as sung by Michael W. Smith.)  

Opportunities will come today to share the love of God. Walk with open eyes, an open heart, and think a bit less about yourself, your needs, and give some of His grace and mercy to the one next to you on the job, in the school, or as you shop. 

Let the love of God break through. The world needs you. The nations need you now. And so does that one He gives you to show Himself to them. 

Now think on this and see what good things the Lord has in store for you and those around you. 

 

Ahava and shalom, 

 

Steve Martin 

Founder

Love For His People Ministry

 

 

Thank you for reading! 

 

loveforhispeople@gmail.com 

 

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Originally published in the series: Now Think On This #453 - in the year of our Lord 08.29.19 – “Love Broke Through” – Thursday, 6:00 am