For about 15 years of my life, I was a rabid collector of sports cards. Baseball cards, football cards, basketball cards, and hockey cards were stacked, boxed, and stored in my bedroom closet by the tens of thousands. A few of them were rather valuable, so I purchased some thick plastic cases to protect their tender cardboard corners from being crumpled, nicked, or torn. Because, as every hobbyist knows, something in mint condition can be priceless.

That’s how God thinks of you. You are human, meaning that, just like me, you are all too easily crumpled by pride, stained by impatient choices, and torn by foolish behavior (likely done to impress your friends). In your natural condition, you wouldn’t be worth anything to God.

But Jesus has changed your value. Jude wrote, “To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy” (Jude 1:24). Your God is able to present you “without fault,” without a single flaw, even in the bright light of his glorious presence.

How is that possible? Only through Jesus. Jesus restored your soul to perfection and then promised to “keep you from stumbling,” that is, to keep you in the protective case of the Christian faith. If you have Jesus, you have a blameless, flawless, faultless soul.

What is more valuable than that?