Why are refrigerator doors important? You probably say, "To keep the cold inside," or "to keep that little light inside from burning out." OK, that's true. But you might be forgetting one of the most valuable functions of a refrigerator door. Yep, it's a great place to display the artwork of your children or your grandchildren! Uh-huh! Oh, ours covered for years. Throughout our house and our offices, you could find pictures drawn by our grandchildren, crafts made by them. You may not think they're masterpieces. You may not think they're great works of art, but they're precious to us. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Surrounded by Precious." Sadly, even though according to the Bible, "God is no respecter of persons" (Romans 2:11), God's children, all too often, are respecters of persons. We judge people by their category. To be honest, most of us secretly, and sometimes openly, think of some people as being "not quite on our level," or not our type, or being "outsiders," or in some way not be quite as important as we are. Don't try telling that to God. In His book, you and I are surrounded by people who are precious. Why? For the same reason our grandson's artwork is precious - because of who made them. Every man or woman in our world was made in the image of Almighty God Himself. Every man and woman in our world is "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:13) ... and is, in the Bible's words, "God's workmanship." Our subtle racism, our prejudice, our feelings of superiority are nothing less than sin to a holy God who "so loved the world that He gave His Son" (John 3:16). And your Savior went out of His way to be with those everyone considered being of less worth. He'd walk past the religious leaders to express His forgiveness to a repentant prostitute. He'd make a despised Samaritan the example of a good neighbor. He would stop the entire parade around Him for the man everyone else wanted to shut up; blind Bartimaeus. And in Mark 1:40-42, our word for today from the Word of God, it says, "A man with leprosy came to Jesus and begged on his knees, 'If you are willing, you can make me clean.' Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. 'I am willing,' He said. 'Be clean!'' What a scandal! Lepers were the lowest of the low - the total outcasts. And no one ever touched them. How shocking it must have been when Jesus reached out to him and touched him. Jesus touched him. Every person is of equal value to Him. Every person should be of equal value to you and me as His followers. No matter what race, no matter what class, no matter what their limitations, no matter what their affiliation, no matter what their education, no matter what nation or religion they come from. Jesus' followers don't get to choose who they'll treat as precious, because we're all precious to Him. Our mission is to show every person in our personal world how very special they are to Him and to us because of who made them!