Scripture Tells Us Our Lives Are Precious – Every One of Us
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Have you ever struggled with depression? Have you ever had a suicidal thought? Have you ever hated someone else? Have you ever thought about hurting someone else? Have you ever had a racist thought about another human being? We live in a day when the value of human life is quickly being diminished. What does the Bible tell us about the value of our lives?
The Walton Family Foundation released a study with John Della Volpe and Social Sphere, which shows that more members of Generation Z are grappling with mental health issues than people from older generations.
Some of what they discovered:
- Gen Z (42%) is about twice as likely as Americans over 25 (23%) to battle depression and feelings of hopelessness.
- Gen Z is three times as likely (18% to 5%) as Americans over 25 to say their challenges are so severe that they thought they might be better off dead.
- 1 in 5 know someone who has died by suicide.
One might ask, “Is it just the way this generation is wired?” I would argue no. Recently I heard that this generation is the most depressed and they have never experienced a war. Perhaps no physical war is going on in our nation, however, a mental and spiritual war is wreaking havoc on many, and not just Gen Z. There is a battle going on for our minds and if we are not careful, we can begin to devalue human life – including our own.
Christ came so that we might have life. He loves us and today we are going to look at what His Word says about valuing not only others’ lives, but ours as well.
God Values Your Life
John 10:10 - “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
It is written out very clearly that Satan and his demons would like nothing more that to steal, kill, and destroy us. But our Savior Jesus came so that we would have life to the full. People can easily place this on a futuristic life in heaven, however this is the present gift of Christ. When we accept Him, we have His Holy Spirit in us. We have life.
1 John 5:12 - “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
If we have Jesus, we have life, today, right now, and in this very moment. No more waiting around for heaven. We look forward to our eternal hope, but we live in the present with fullness of His Spirit. He wants this for us. He desires for us to have joy found in Him. Not that everything is easy, but He has a purpose. My friend Debbie always says, “If you’re not dead, God’s not done.”
This is the day the Lord has made and we are called to rejoice and be glad in it. We are invited to share His gospel of hope with others.
Also, God values all people, not just current believers. He says in Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” John 3:16-17 tells us that God loved the world, so He sent Jesus. Jesus is God and He came to us and offered His sacrifice to the whole world. If you have never accepted Jesus as your Savior, He loves you and values you and wants to welcome you, broken and sinful, into His family through His gift of salvation.
God Values the Lives of Others, and So Should Believers
But that person has different political beliefs than me? My neighbor is weird Lord, you don’t understand. Well, they don’t value me, so why should I value them? It is easy to become hardened by the sins of ourselves and others. We can decide to just ignore God’s calling to love others, or we can press into that.
Matthew 5:43-44 - “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
This is the opposite of the ways of the world. Some would say to get revenge. Others would say to create distance or avoid at all costs. But Jesus says to love our enemies and pray for them. This is a tall order. It is nothing that we can accomplish on our own, but we can with the help of Christ.
This means that we are called to love people who don’t believe in Jesus. This means that we are called to love people who make fun of us. This means we are called to love people with different races and cultural backgrounds. This means we are called to love unborn children and those who abort them. We never condone sin, but we sit with sinners. We never celebrate evil, but we give invitation to salvation.
Why do people choose to kill others or commit mass shootings? Why do people make decisions to make fun of those with disabilities? Why do people gossip about other human beings? The answer is sin. The enemy wants us to devalue the creations that God called very good. He wants to confuse people everywhere into believing that it is ok to hate others, to harm others, and to laugh at them.
This was not and is not the way of Jesus. He loves others. He prays for others and we are invited to do the same.
Genesis 1:27 - “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”
Psalm 139:14 - “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
Luke 5:31-32 - “Jesus answered them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’”
Ephesians 2:10 - “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Five times in Revelation, God says, “Every nation, tribe, people and language” will be in heaven. Revelation 5:9, Revelation 7:9, Revelation 11:9, Revelation 13:7, and Revelation 14:6.
As believers, we have an opportunity to model valuing life. God is the Creator and Sustainer of life and we can worship Him by the ways we love Him and love others. All humanity is made in God’s image, and He loves us all so much. Each of us has great value because of Him.
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