With yet again another mass shooting taking place, this time in New Zealand, we see radical ideology playing out in the most heinous ways and it reflects a larger issue of the heart to be addressed. With compounding societal and technological variables we have painted ourselves into a culture of contempt, unable to disagree and discuss and still love. My heart breaks at this. There is intrinsic value and worth in EVERY human because God values us, gave everything for us, that His gifts of redemption, salvation, forgiveness, peace, and true freedom would be made available to everyone. If worth is determined by what is invested, then the infinite expense paid on our behalf makes each human infinitely valuable. But whether one follows Jesus or not does not change the value God places on the head of every individual. In the song Runaway by Jess Ray, she sings, “You will never see the bottom of the storehouses of his love.” Because He values us, we are valuable! Regardless of the situation, our past, or present situation, His love for us knows no boundaries.
If this is taken out of the equation, there is nothing left to justify intrinsic value and worth, but only a self seeking agenda that promotes self and power in an ego-centric drive at the expense of others because they are “less.”
What’s wrong with the world? All of us. We all hold a piece of the puzzle, because we are in this together. No "us" and "them." And at the moment we hold contempt for our fellow man, we will find ourselves blissfully unaware that we are blindly walking that rocky treacherous path of destruction to ourselves and those around us. Maybe it's time to choose to see and promote the value in the people around us, not degrade it.
Because He values us, we are valuable!
1 John 4:19 “We love because He first loved us.”
John 10:10 “...I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
