Do you know your Value?

Last Sabbath Jack Polihronov presented a wonderful seminar on the “Value of Human Life” leading all to recognize that one cannot compare value of one human life over another. The value of each person comes from its owner, maker, designer and keeper – God!

One cannot compare a value of a newborn with a value of a ninety-year old – both are God’s children, the life of both belongs to God. I invite you to think about it: your value is not derived from your work, office, bank account, from your age, from the dress you put on, from decorations that may be applied, nor from the staff you have. Your value comes from the point of your origin – hands of Life Giver God.

Recently I had read an interesting book by Leonard Sweet & Frank Viola “Jesus Manifesto.” There is a chapter entitled “If God wrote your biography.” I was overwhelmed with this simple reminder that we live, move and have our being in Christ! Instead of inviting God into our story, we should accept God’s invitation to enter His Story written for us in His Son Jesus.

Last Sabbath I touched briefly in my sermon on this - our real birth for eternal life is when we are born anew and become partakers of Christ’s nature. We were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. And just as our physical birth gives us senses so is spiritual birth gives us new spiritual sight, taste, hearing, touch and smell. Theologians call it “justification” – being set right with God!

We grow and develop into maturity in Christ. To mature is not just to age but to learn Christ (Ephesians 4:15,20). We are to mature so we may have the mind of Christ (2^nd Corinthians 2:16). As we journey here we are to be crucified and die to our desires with Christ (Galatians 2:20; Romans 6:6; Colossians 2:20) When we voluntarily lose, lay down our desires and deeds of our flesh on a daily basis they we are truly participating in Christ. (Philippians 3:10) the history of Jesus is to be our experience. Every time we allow the indwelling presence of Christ to triumph over forces of sin and death we are living out the dying and rising of Jesus in our mortal bodies. This is what some call “Sanctification,” being transformed by renewing our mind. It takes a Church to raise a Christian. It takes the Body of Christ to make one a part.

Our destiny is also in Christ. The “glorification” is about permitting the Image of God to bloom in us. We are already invited to be seated with Christ in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6)!

Jesus is the Author and Finisher of our biography (Hebrews 12:2). We truly live only by faith. Our true biography is our Faith journey. The value of human life is in faith, in Christ, in God filling us with his fullness! Everything else is postscript.