Heart Exchange

Jesus came for a heart exchange...ours for His.
He came to change the minds of the Pharisees and Sadducees. He came to make disciples of the 12.
But he came to breath value to women. Heal them, make them whole, tell them everything he knew about them.
He came to even the playing field. He came to apply 1 Samuel 16:7:

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”

The Genesis curse caused people to judge and discard or promote others by their looks, gender, class, religious discipline, etc.

Jesus came to connect His heart with people who were willing to receive and those that were desperate. He physically and emotionally touched women in a way that truly set them free. They knew after leaving his presence that they were valued and important.

On a personal note, one of my daughters wanted to know why China is having a shortage of workers. She wanted to know how they ended up with fewer women then men and why.
We talked about because the Chinese government was attempting to control population they limited families to one child. Because men are more valued in that country, the family would place females in orphanages and try again for a boy.
This really bothered her. If most of a country would discount women, then my own daughter questioned her value.

We then discussed that the leadership of China and many of the residents there do not know Jesus. True value can only be realized by being known by the Creator of the Universe and receiving that identity.

This, again, is where 1 Samuel 16:7 comes in.

Heavenly value is God seeing past what makes us individually unique and breaks through what we have in common with Him.
When we hold the heart of Jesus inside our shell, it catapults us past gender, color, sex, race.
The heart of Jesus contains all the components of His nature that we desire to be whole.
Value cannot be destroyed when we hold His heart.
Value isn't determined by our status as a son or daughter on Earth, single or married, positive or negative relationships.

It exists solely as a child of God.
This is how we enter the heavenly gates.
Humbly and securely...His.

The world has always been the same outside the Garden of Eden. Countries and governments existed to control and step over bounds.
Striving not to imitate God but to replace Him is how they thrived.