Unvalued?

This past weekend, we traveled to my birthplace, Toledo, Ohio. We spent time with my sister and her husband, as well as my brother and his wife. While there, we attended a church that is dear to our hearts and pastored by the same man who performed our wedding ceremony forty-eight years ago. Although we looked forward to him bringing the message, his granddaughter preached her first sermon, and she did an outstanding job.

On our drive back to Tennessee, we stopped at the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky. I enjoyed their botanical gardens. Beautiful flowers were in bloom, including the pink Indian lotus, and we saw a baby turtle crawling atop the lily pads. Waterfalls, bridges, and gazebos added to the lovely outdoor display.

Inside, one exhibit moved me to tears—Fearfully & Wonderfully Made. When we entered, a sign read, “Immeasurable Value. All human life is precious because we are made in God’s image . . .” The exhibit showed the growth of a baby in its mother’s womb and presented both naturalistic evolutionary and Biblical worldviews.

I teared up when I read the non-Biblical worldview. “From a naturalistic evolutionary perspective, morality is arbitrary and human beings have no more inherent value than an animal, a blade of grass, a rock, or anything else. Thus, ending human life via abortion or euthanasia carries no moral implications and is consistent with the evolutionary philosophy built on death and suffering.”

Are there people who really think this way? Believe they have no more value than an animal, plant, or rock? Sounds like a depressing way of life. I’m so thankful God made us in His image, and we have great value in Christ.

Psalm 139:13-18 expresses the value God places on us while still in the womb.

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded
in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single
day had passed.

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
They cannot be numbered!

I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up, you are still with me!

God values us so much that He made us complex, watched over us and wove us together in the womb, and recorded every day of our life in His book. In addition, He thinks precious thoughts about us—about you and about me. When we wake up, He is with us and desires to spend time with us.

For those who believe the statement that human beings have no more value than an animal, I hope they read Luke 12:7.

Jesus said, “And the very hairs on your head are all numbered.
So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God
than a whole flock of sparrows.”

Please don’t trust the lie that you are unvalued. You are valuable to our Heavenly Father! Jesus Christ paid a high price and died because of His great love for you.