If human beings are just the accidental product of time plus chance, then there is no rational basis for human dignity. If this is the case, then human life should be viewed as a commodity, and we should only value people for what they bring to the party.
Can they tell funny stories or play an instrument well? Okay, let them in.
Do they have money or connections that might be put to good use? They get to join us.
Are they beautiful to look at? Put them at the table in the front.
The smart, strong, talented, wealthy, beautiful people are valuable, all others must stay behind the velvet rope.
In fact, it might be better — since we’re all just accidents anyway — to systematically weed certain types out of the garden altogether. If we don’t, they’ll continue to be a burden on society.
Few people throughout human history have been willing to take this argument all the way to its logical conclusions. Those who have thought things through, almost without fail, ended up either committing some of the worst atrocities in human history or succumbing to utter hopelessness and despair. Without a proper understanding of human nature, though, it’s difficult to give a reason why we should not walk down either of those paths as far as we can. But there is a reason. Human beings have such tremendous dignity that we must value human life.
Meditate today on the implications of humans created in God’s image. For most people reading this post, the application will have less to do with issues of abortion or euthanasia and more to do with how you treat the people in your own home or workplace. Do you really value them as ones created in the image of God? Or do you treat them like objects?
The dignity of human life is not the only value we can glean from this story. We’ve learned that each and every one of us is utterly dependent on God for the very breath that we expect to fill our lungs in the next moment or two. We must also realise that our minds, clouded as they are with mixed motives, must have guidance from an external Source. There is no created person or thing that can help us live above our circumstances. Only something transcendent can provide the perspective we need to navigate our passage through this world.
Because human beings are dependent upon God, we must value His Word.
The Bible is not simply a rulebook or a textbook or a storybook, it is written to shape our thoughts, our feelings and our actions. Without it, we are left to make our own way in the world — to our own demise. The wisdom found in the Bible is like the air we breathe, it did not come from us, but it must come to us — come into us, in fact — for us to be sustained.
Unfortunately, our first parents failed to value God’s Word and chose to go their own way. Not satisfied to be dependent on God for guidance, they chose to rebel. This decision set in motion a chain of events that has led to despair, anxiety, misery and agony ever since.
We find ourselves in the uncomfortable position of declaring humans totally depraved. There is not one aspect of a human being that is untainted by the devastating effects of sin. Furthermore, there is not one aspect of human society that is pristine or unspoiled. Our own bodies have turned against us, betraying our noblest aspirations, and we often find ourselves feeling trapped in a world without hope. As one biblical writer despaired, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (Rom 7.24).
Thankfully, that same writer answered his own question in the next verse: “Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (.25).
Because human beings are totally depraved, we must value Jesus Christ.
After all, this Jesus fellow (who is part of the plural pronoun I pointed out in the last post), valued human beings enough to come and die in our place to rescue us from a catastrophe of our own making. And where do we learn about all that He said and did?
In God’s Word.
Prayer
Father, You have loved me and called me to be Your loyal follower, and to find my true pleasure in Your revealed will. You have given all humanity great personal worth and have called us to a high and holy life of other-centered love. As I pursue You, may I also pursue the best interests of the people You have sovereignly placed in my life, so that I will be an agent of reconciliation and of Your grace. You are the eternal well-spring of wisdom, and I want to drink from the water of Your Word and be satisfied. Keep me from being a stumbling block to others and empower me to treat people according to their true dignity in Your image rather than according to the world’s distorted view of status and worth. Let my love and service of others be an expression of my love and service to You.
In Jesus’s name, Amen
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