Demeaning The Value Of A Person… Hello Hump Day readers. Well, now we wait as our voting plays out. In the last couple days it has been very hard for me to turn on the TV let alone listen to the unbelievable nasty words battered to and thro. It is ugly, it is demeaning and when I go into Scripture I find that we are NOT supposed to be like that. We all have our choice of whom we will elect, but once we start demeaning one another all bets are off and the mud-slinging bombards us from every corner of this nation and it hurts. Since when is it OK to devalue another person? I know I can get so angry from the lies and the rhetoric in this election. I find myself getting angry, my words come out like a bully, and that is NOT what I want to be. But isn’t it so easy to get sucked into this madness? Even now, we wait and it may be weeks before the election is settled. Worse yet will be those who deny, those who have already said they will have another January 6 insurrection, and the pall of criminal activity that has been promised if they don’t get what they want.

For me, as a Jesus-follower, I don’t want to get caught up in this but I find myself doing just that, ugh. If you are like me, I am exhausted with the anger and upset with myself falling into it. So let’s ask one another, “what is the value of a person?” How do I want to be valued?

Sadly, in our society, value is now measured by two criteria: appearance and performance. When I first read this I almost threw-up. Really? My appearance and performance will be how people value me? That is NOT how God values any of us. So think about this and how it impacts the people in our world:

  • Where does that leave the ugly or the uneducated?
  • What hope does that offer the unborn child, the aged, the handicapped?
  • What happens to those who are disabled in body and mind?
  • What joy can come out of this criterion for any of us?

The answer is—not much at all. We become nameless numbers on mislaid lists. This is the human’s value system—NOT God’s value system. Our loving God has a plan that is much brighter. Max Lucado puts it this way: “In God’s book you and me, are heading somewhere. God has an amazing destiny for each of us. We’re being prepared to walk down the church aisle and become the bride of Christ. We’re going to live with our Jesus and share the throne with him.”  Think about that—living with Jesus now and for eternity, I want that, don’t you?

In God, each and every one of us counts. We’re valuable no matter the color of our skin, finances, weakness, prowess, sexuality, origins, intelligence, looks, tall or short, can’t sing a note or can sing like an opera singer. You see, God knows each one of us has incredible abilities because God designed them for us and gave them to us. Our value is from God and NO ONE ELSE—period!

In Genesis 1:26-27 [Voice] God tells us: “Now let Us conceive a new creation—humanity—made in Our image, fashioned according to Our likeness. And let Us grant them authority over all the earth—the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, the domesticated animals and the small creeping creatures on the earth. So God did just that. He created humanity in His image, created them male and female.”

In Ephesians 1:4 [Voice] the Apostle Paul says: “God chose us to be in a relationship with Him even before He laid out plans for this world; He wanted us to live holy lives characterized by love, free from sin, and blameless before Him.”

O my friends, Jesus’ love does not depend on what we do for him. If there was anything that Jesus wanted all of us to understand it was this: a person is worthy simply because he or she is a person! And that is why Jesus treated people the way he did and he still does the same today. You have value simply because you are His. So, can we stop the rhetoric and embrace one another as the children of God that we are supposed to be? Heed this warning: if we stay this way, we are walking away from the incredible value God has for each one of us. How then can we share the gospel for those who need God if we act this way? Think about it and choose wisely. AMEN.