The Value of Life

The Value Of Life

Matthew 6:26 Look at the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? [HCSB]

It is amazing, and confounding, how our modern society on one hand says we are our own masters, no one and certainly no god can tell us what to do. While on the other hand saying we are nothing more than animals, a hapless cosmic accident wandering among other accidents. No wonder so many people are anxious and confused!

A recent report on our local NBC affiliate WRCB stated that suicides in the state of Tennessee are at their highest point in 35 years. (1) On average 3 people commit suicide in our state every single day and the suicide rates are increasing in every age bracket and demographic. It doesn't matter if you are rich or poor - money doesn’t prevent it. Doesn’t matter if you are white or black or young or old, or healthy or sick. Race, age and health doesn’t prevent it.

When we lower the value of human life we lower the value of living. Why put up with the hassles of life - the worry, the stress, the anxiety, if our life is not worth more than the lowest animal.

In the past weeks we have seen a mass shooting at a school in Kentucky, numerous murders and assaults - and that's just the stuff that make the news. How many babies were aborted this week? How many young girls sold into sex trafficking? How many children abused and neglected? How many people mistreated because of their skin color or their age? We must realize that being pro life is more than being anti abortion, because our view of life and our understanding of the value of life has consequences far beyond birth. If my life is of no consequence in this world than neither are my actions. If I think my life and your life have no value then what difference does it make how I act or treat others. What does it matter who I hurt, if all of this is meaningless.

We live in a world full of violence and self hatred and all of the worry and stress that comes with it because we deny our role in creation and God’s role in our life.

In Matthew 6 Jesus explains that with God showing such intricate care for even the smallest of creation that we, who are created in God's image, truly have nothing to worry about. His point is not that this world will be easy but that in this world we will not be alone, and our existence is more than this world. But this anxiety He warns against is exactly what happens when we deny God’s providential care for all of Creation and specifically his care for humanity. If we deny the value of human life then this idea will have consequences.

One of these consequences will be taking from us a faith which fights against worry and anxiety. We have everything to worry about and nothing to hope for if we are just a random, cosmic accident, with no worth and no providential care.

But what if Jesus is right? What if we stop and look at Jesus’ words and make the radical leap that He is telling us the truth. That there is a Fatherly God who is not far off and distant but present and active in creation. That this Heavenly Father actually knows you, not just in passing, but in intimate detail, and that He cares for you personally.

Would that mean something to you? What if this same God created you not just to take up space but to have a purpose and that He wants you to succeed in that purpose? Would that give you peace in the midst of a crazy and chaotic world? What if this same God loved you so much that He sent His Son to die for you to pay an infinite price so that you could have life? What value would your life have then?

In verse 33, Jesus tells us to seek first the kingdom of God, why? To keep us busy and blinded and beat down? No! Because that is where we find value, we find meaning, we find purpose - it is in the kingdom of God where we find life itself and life in abundance! The kingdom of God is our home and that is where our life has true value.

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References: (1) http://www.wrcbtv.com/story/37234357/suicides-in-tennessee-reach-record-breaking-high