THE VALUE OF LIFE

WHAT DOES VALUE MEAN?

Value is the worth of something or its importance. Like in love, we give unconditional love to the ones we love and cherish. God for His unconditional love, gave us His only begotten Son to redeem us from sin by dying on the cross to give us eternal life (John 3:16) “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John wanted his readers to experience life in the name of Jesus. And Jesus the Son of God offered humanity the water of life, the bread of life and the light of life; that whoever thirst may drink the living water, whoever is hungry may eat the bread of life and whoever is in darkness to receive the eternal light. He came to give His people full, rich, joyful lives and admonished those who refused to accept that life. We come to the Father through Jesus in order to obtain God’s grace- filled gift of eternal life (1 John 5:20) “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him Who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God of eternal life.” If we believe in the Son of God, the Word of life, and live in love, we receive life. God is the source of life; when we believe in Jesus His Son, who laid down His life, we can know that we have eternal life. If we have life in the fullest sense of the word, we must believe in Jesus.

THE VALUE OF LIFE DURING EZEKIEL’S TIME

It is very unfortunate that during Ezekiel’s time, humanity regarded not the value of life but shed too blood much in every corner both leaders and laymen and their abomination had abhorred God their Creator (Ezek. 22:8-9) “You have despised My holy things and profaned my Sabbaths. In you are men who slander to cause bloodshed; in you are those who eat on the mountains; in your midst they commit lewdness.” The statistics on murder and manslaughter apparently had doubled and tripled in the days just prior to Jerusalem’s destruction in  586 B.C. Both leaders (V. 6) “Look, the princes of Israel; each one has used his power to shed blood in you.” And lay men (V. 12) “In you they take bribes to shed blood; you take usury and increase; you have made profit from your neighbors by exhortation and have forgotten Me,” says the Lord God.”  All the leaders and laymen were guilty of bloodshed in Jerusalem.  One seems to be a total lack of respect, on the part of its citizens for the sacredness and dignity of human life. The present Judah’s demise can be traced back to the reign of Manasseh, one of its most evil kings, who shed human blood from one end of the land to the other, including the slaughter of his own children, offering them as burnt sacrifices to the devil gods in the Valley of Hinnom just outside Jerusalem (2 Chr. 33) “Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem but did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.” (V. 5-7) “And he built alters for all the host of heaven in two courts of the house of the Lord. Also he caused his sons to pass through the fire in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom; he practiced soothsaying, used witch craft and sorcery, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger, he even set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel I will put My name forever.” Manasseh was the son of Hezekiah who walked with God just as his father David. But where did Manasseh got all these wickedness from? It was not like a father like a son but, not like a father, but like a son of the devil.  The gift of life beloved is a gift from God Himself, and we must uphold it. Each one of us is made in God’s image a priceless part of God’s plan even before we were conceived (Jer. 1:5). We must therefore strive to love all men even as God Himself has loved us and not to be given over to rage. Love never condemns but corrects; therefore beloved brethren as Peter admonishes us (1 Pet. 4:15) “Let none of us suffer as a murderer, as a thief, as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters.”

LIFE’S PURPOSE

The preacher in all his riches, wealth, prosperity and wisdom more than all the men of the east would conclude thus (Ecc. 12:13) Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter, “fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all.” We have got no other purpose on this earth than to live with the fear of God as our pillar and source as to that is what life is worth living for. In the book of Ecclesiastes, the author reached a conclusion as to life’s purpose. When he saw that life was a gift from God, (Ecc. 2:24) “Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, was from the hand of God,” regulated by His Word and His Commandments, (V. 10-13) “The preacher sought to find acceptable words; and what was written was upright-words of truth. The words of the wise are like goads, and the words of scholars are like well driven nails given by one Shepherd. And further, my son be admonished by these. Of making many books there is no end and much study is wearisome to the flesh. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: “Fear God and keep His commandment, for this is man’s all.” he knew that a person could enjoy life. According to the preacher, humans ought to enjoy life one day at a time and accept what God has in store, though they should always recognize that tomorrow things may be different. As an old man who was reaching the end of his life and who did not want anyone else to repeat his frustrating search he wrote, “Don’t let the excitement of your youth cause you to forget your Creator.” (Ecc. 11:9-10; 12:1) “Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth; walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes, but know that for all these God will bring you into judgment. Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh, for childhood and youth are vanity. Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come, and the years draw near when you say, “I have no pleasure in them.”  When seen in the light of God’s eventual judgment, all that we value in this world- wealth, power, recognition, wisdom and accomplishment- is small and vain(12:14). If all is vanity beloved, then what are we left with? “Fear God and keep His commandments” I repeat for the second time!  A part from the Lord and His Word our lives are vanity, but lived in harmony with the Lord our lives have value, depth and reality. Only in God will true satisfaction and fulfillment be found. John warns us in his epistle thus (John 6:27) “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God and the Father has set His seal on Him.”

HUMAN LIFE

In all human’s life God is its source (Gen. 2:7) “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”  We awe God all the reverence due His name as our Creator.  Listen now to the words of Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite to the afflicted Job (Job 33:4) “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” The Spirit of God makes us, and then the breath from God the Almighty; the all in all gives us life. Isaiah the son of Amoz said, (Isa. 42:5) “Thus says God the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it.” And in the book of Acts of the apostles its written thus (Acts 17:26-28) “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth and has determined their reappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, “For we are also His offspring.” And God as our Creator, He preserves our lives (Job 12:10) “In whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind? Of course in God’s hand. And in (Ps. 138:7) “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch out Your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and Your right hand will save me.” As we live here on earth let’s have in mind that God’s kingdom is the very essence why we are here on earth (Matt. 10:38-39) “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” And in (John 12:25) “He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. “

TAKING A HUMAN LIFE IS FORBIDDEN

We are not in any way allowed to take anyone’s life whatsoever (Gen. 9:5-6) “Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand every man’s brother I will require the life of man. “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man.”  In the sixth social commandment, God prohibited “Murder” (Exod.20:13), another similar Scripture from the book of (Heb. 13:9-10) “For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,”  “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covert.” And if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” If indeed we love our neighbors, we will by no means dare take their lives in bloodshed but instead, we will value their lives just as we value ours. May we be our brother’s keeper beloved and never be a prey!

“Grace to you and Favor from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with us all. Amen and Amen and Amen.”