Weekly Devotional 12-2-13 The Value of Human Life
Many today seemingly place little or no value on human life. Abortions number in the millions, wars take the lives of hundreds of thousands, murder ends the life of many and suicides take the life of untold numbers. Why? Perhaps the answer lies in the belief that at physical death a human being ceases to exist. However, unlike all lower forms of life, humans were created with an eternal spirit (Genesis 2:7; 1st Corinthians 15:45; 1st Thessalonians 5:23-24 Hebrews 4:12) whose purpose was and is to showcase God’s glory; for in the image of God made He man (Genesis 1:26-27). God, knowing that man would sin and become separated from Him, put such a premium on mankind that He, in restoration of man, decreed before He created the world that He Himself as man would die for that restoration (Revelation 13:8; 17:8 Hebrews 9 & 10; Romans 5:).
Jesus, the Son of God, explained to the Pharisee Nicodemus (and us by extension) that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever would believe on Him would have everlasting life (John 3:16). From this passage (and many others could be cited) we learn that the spirit of the human being lives on past the death of his physical body. In another passage Jesus affirms this when He said, “My sheep hear My voice and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish” (John 10:27-28). Never perish has the idea of continuous action, that is, ever existing or never ending. Jesus affirmed this truth to Martha concerning her brother Lazarus who had just four days earlier died. In comforting her He said, “Your brother shall rise again.” In response to Him she said, “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Then Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11:23-26).
God, the Creator of all that is, put such a premium on man that He created him an eternal spiritual being, and in His own image. No other creature was so created. Man was intended to glorify God in and by his very existence. Of course, we know from Scripture that man, represented in Adam, sinned against God and became unlike God. Instead of bearing the image of God he became a god unto himself desiring what the knowledge of evil could suggest and lead him to. Yet, God loved humanity and put in motion that which could and would wipe out sin and restore man back to the image lost.
Paul, the Apostle, wrote that God is at work conforming those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose, to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. The conclusion of that conforming is the one who is called is also justified in His sight and will be glorified (Romans 8:28-30). The writer of the book of Hebrews wrote that nothing could satisfy God’s wrath against sin other than the physical death of the God/man, Jesus (Hebrews 9:24-28). The tragedy is that those who do not value human life, even their own, will find themselves eternally cast out of the presence of God where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:12; Luke 13:28).
In summary, God the Father so valued human life that he gave His only begotten Son to rescue fallen man. God the Son so valued human life that He sacrificed His own life for that purpose. He suffered the agony of the cross so that all who would believe and trust Him for their salvation could and would escape the agonies of eternal separation from God. God will not be mocked He has placed great value on human life, and that must be our perspective.
stevelampman@comcast.net stevelampman.com
Transforming Power, The work of God on Behalf of Man