My friend Heidi and I were enjoying coffee and delicious raspberry pastries at my favorite bakery in Waverly, Alabama. Heidi said, “I love raspberries.”

“Me too!” I replied. “Raspberries are my guilty pleasure. They are expensive and they never last very long, and almost every grocery store trip, I grab a small container of my beloved fruit.”

I explained to her how I justify (in my mind) the expense of my raspberry passion. “I don’t spend a lot of money on hair and makeup, so I feel like it’s okay to buy raspberries even when they are not on sale for 3/$10.”

When I shared my rationale with Heidi, she laughed and said I need to write about raspberries. So, faithful reader, here it is. But, if you have been reading my posts for a while, you know this is not really about raspberries. It’s much more. Pondering about my raspberry passion made me realize we make choices all the time about what we value.

As I thought about what I choose to “splurge” on, it made me wonder: what does Jesus value? What one thing does Jesus choose over another? In other words, what is his raspberry obsession?

It is apparent in watching how he lived that Jesus most valued people. All sorts of people. The lost, the unlovely, children, disciples, the outcast, the rich, the poor… and you.

This is what Jesus says about choosing, “You did not choose me, but I chose you…” (John 15:16).

Of all the things in this world he could choose, Jesus chooses you. What a comforting and secure thought! He is a friend and a savior who would choose you every single time because you are what he values most.

Our crazy world — whose values seem to be turned upside down — can make you doubt your worth. If so, keep this in mind:

“Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes” (Ephesians 1:4).

You were loved and chosen even before the world was created. That’s how valuable you are!

I don’t know if Jesus loved raspberries, but I sure hope he did. I’m thanking him that a  raspberry pastry reminded me that he made a choice about what he values. And that that choice is us.