Genesis - Day 10
Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.
Genesis 2:7-8
What are humans worth? There are a few answers to this question. Boiled down to our base elements, the answer is $17.18 (US$ I think). Harvest our organs and you could get $550,000 (again, US$). But there are other ways of thinking about this. What is the value of Ukrainian life in the eyes of Putin? Not much it would seem.
How do we decide the value of human life? What does the Bible say? Well, on one level, we could say that $17.18 is fairly accurate. After all, we are made from dust and to dust we will go. According to biology and economics we have little to no intrinsic physical value.
But what makes a human life valuable isn’t our physical nature but our spiritual one. Every single human is made in the image of God. We are a likeness of the eternal and almighty God. Like a master craftsman, God sets our value.
What value is that? Well, what price would you put on someone you love? What price does a loving parent put on a child? The truth is we are priceless. This is so important for a few reasons.
Firstly, it reminds us that our value is not based on biology or utility (what we do), but whose we are. Male or female, black or white, CEO or counsellor. We are all God’s handiwork.
Secondly, it reminds us that all humans are made in God’s image regardless of age, wealth or capacity and therefore of equal worth. A child in the womb is not worth less than an adult woman. A person with a disability is not worth less than any other human.
What good news this is for those who feel undervalued in our world. For the downtrodden. For you.
For Today:
Pray:
Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.
Genesis 2:7-8
What are humans worth? There are a few answers to this question. Boiled down to our base elements, the answer is $17.18 (US$ I think). Harvest our organs and you could get $550,000 (again, US$). But there are other ways of thinking about this. What is the value of Ukrainian life in the eyes of Putin? Not much it would seem.
How do we decide the value of human life? What does the Bible say? Well, on one level, we could say that $17.18 is fairly accurate. After all, we are made from dust and to dust we will go. According to biology and economics we have little to no intrinsic physical value.
But what makes a human life valuable isn’t our physical nature but our spiritual one. Every single human is made in the image of God. We are a likeness of the eternal and almighty God. Like a master craftsman, God sets our value.
What value is that? Well, what price would you put on someone you love? What price does a loving parent put on a child? The truth is we are priceless. This is so important for a few reasons.
Firstly, it reminds us that our value is not based on biology or utility (what we do), but whose we are. Male or female, black or white, CEO or counsellor. We are all God’s handiwork.
Secondly, it reminds us that all humans are made in God’s image regardless of age, wealth or capacity and therefore of equal worth. A child in the womb is not worth less than an adult woman. A person with a disability is not worth less than any other human.
What good news this is for those who feel undervalued in our world. For the downtrodden. For you.
For Today:
- Do you feel undervalued by others?
- Does your heart ache for those who are treated as worthless?
- How can you value human life today? Yours and others?
Pray:
- Praise the Father who gives us life and value.
- Give thanks for Christ who paid the ultimate price to redeem us.
- Ask God for His Holy Spirit to help you and others see the value of human life and desire the good of others.
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