Thursday April 23, 2020

Your Daily Dose of Inspiration:

God called His creation “very good” before we had done anything to deserve such praise. It is because we were not being measured by our behavior, but by His own handiwork. God declared us valuable before we even got started. That is why abortion is so abhorrent. It is the utter devaluation of life. Christians are not trying to remove a mother’s right to choose what to do with her own body, rather we are concerned with the valuable life she is carrying. Regardless of the circumstances of its beginning, human life, in every form, has intrinsic value. To end that life before it has a chance to explore its own potential is to take what is precious and throw it in the trash. It is a life made by God; thus, its life is deserved. If a life full of pain and mistakes retains its worth, surely a life newly beginning is no less valuable.

Psalms 139:13-16 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. (14) I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. (15) My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. (16) Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

Life is valuable at conception and does not diminish in value through mistakes or failure. Furthermore, the intrinsic value of a person does not increase with good behavior or success. The accomplished person is not more worthy than the person who has failed. That is one reason pride bothers us so much. When we see a person acting as if they are more important than others, we are annoyed because we recognize that, fundamentally, they are just person like us. That is why the American Declaration of Independence states, “All men are created equal…” No person can declare themselves to be more valuable than another because our value is not determined by our failures or by our accomplishments. In regard to value, it does not matter who your family is, where you were born, how much money you have, how many rewards you have earned, or anything else. Each person retains their value as given them by God, and no person can increase it through effort. Thus, Paul implores us to not think more highly of ourselves than we ought in Romans 12:3. For it is the fool who sets himself above other men, supposing that he is more than others. God has made us all, so who among us can say that we are more than anyone else?

1 Corinthians 1:27-31 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; (28) God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, (29) so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. (30) And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, (31) so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

There is no room for us to boast in our own worth. There is no room for us to despise our own worth. It is not a thing we have obtained; it is given to us by God. Who among us has the right to call ourselves greater or less? It is God who defines your worth, for you are His creation; and He has called His creation very good.

-Jared Freeman, “Intrinsic Worth”