Theme of the Week: Uniqueness of Christmas
Bible Verse: “… what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.” Psalm 8:4-5
Scripture Reading: Psalm 8:1-9
In 1969 we were all worth the total of 98 cents. That was the value of our body’s chemical components. With inflation factored in, the value of those chemicals in 1994 was $8.84.
Are you feeling valuable yet? Well, here is something a little more encouraging. If you are willing to sell off parts of your body, you could get rich. Organ-trafficking markets in various parts of the world will offer you thousands of dollars for a cornea or a kidney, a slice of liver or a lung. Add it up folks and feel good!
On top of that, if you have a big insurance policy in place when you die, your beneficiary will think you were worth even more. This knowledge of how valuable we are should make all of us feel absolutely terrific! Right?
Wrong! Inside every human being is a desire to be valued for more than the sum total of our parts. We want to be affirmed, not just for what we can do, but for who we are. We long to be appreciated just because we are; even if we fail, even when we are weak, sick, or even when we grow old and are no longer able to contribute.
But who in the world is going to value us at those times? It seems like our worth to most people, if not all, has everything to do with how we look, act, perform, produce, succeed or respond. As a result, our value fluctuates. There seems to be no constant, intrinsic worth.
There is an old, old love story however, that rewrites the script of human value. It declares the worth of every single human being to be more than the entire universe. And the value it bestows on each person cannot be taken away, ever!
I am referring to the Christmas story.
If you are able to look past all the pomp and paraphernalia of the holidays to what actually happened in human history you will see what I mean. God looked down at our human condition and, although He saw our fluctuating value to each other, He also saw our eternal value to Him.
God looked down at our human condition and, although He saw our fluctuating value to each other, He also saw our eternal value to Him.
So He pursued us. He left the glory of Heaven and became like one of us on earth. While here He specifically touched all the people whose value the world held in question. After giving back dignity to the broken, bruised, blind, bound and bothered He pulled out His wallet and paid the price of our worth, according to His evaluation.
And how much was that? God didn’t set our value in cash. He paid in blood. His own.
How much are you worth? It all depends on who you ask.
This holiday season when someone wishes you the familiar, “Merry Christmas,” let your heart hear the ultimate affirmation from one whose evaluation really matters.
Dave Petrescue in Pastor Dave’s Reflections. ©Brenda Petrescue, 2008. davepetrescue.com Used By Permission.
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