Our age has a fundamental problem with the question of value. Given our general materialistic proclivity, we tend to adopt a, "its value is indicated by what a person will pay for it", perspective. This is flawed but understandable. We use the one measuring stick by which we allow all things in our lives to be evaluated, so why wouldn't we apply it to value.
The problem is that we then conflate price with value. We then live in a world of depreciating value. All that we have is worth less each day we exist. It is a depressing method of determining worth and by extension value. Ultimately we arrive at a place where all that we possess is bereft of value, and is worthless.
The materialistic worldview then tells us to go and obtain more things of greater worth/price. It then becomes a vicious cycle that always ends in the same place, bankruptcy. Not in that legal proceeding sense of of the word, but in that place where all we have and all we ever hope to have is of no worth, no value.
As if this cycle weren't pernicious enough, it becomes even more vexing and dangerous when we apply this logic to people, or even ourselves. When we apply value to people by the yardstick of price, we disregard all other factors that work into this equation. And we disregard the intrinsic value of the person. We fail to regard the work product of the divine appropriately. We fail to see into the eyes of those we value inappropriately the face of the creator looking back at us.
PSALMS 139: 13-15
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because
I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
(New International Version quoted from Bible Gateway: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%20139&version=NIV)
The hand of the Almighty crafts each and every single one of us. And that crafting is missed in the price equals value method of determining worth. It misses that the manual laborer is of the same value, as the CEO, as the politician, as the doctor, as the lawyer. It seeks to value only price and ignore all else. It approaches life from the motto "if it costs more it must be better." And we embrace this equation at our peril.
We need to shift away from this method. We need to see that the barista that gets our morning coffee. The waitress that takes our lunch order. The teacher that educates our children. All are at least equal to our own worth. We need to see value as intrinsic to the person. We to SEE them as they are see by our GOD. Their value is determined and derived by their creator.
This means that they are deserving of our respect. They are deserving of a dignity not defined by the zeroes in a bank account or their hourly wage. It means more than a grudging deference to what they can do for us. It means seeing them as God sees them. It means valuing them with the distinct worth that God places on them. It means seeing that God created something that he called Good. It means grasping that we are all fearfully and wonderfully made. And in His eyes we all live, thrive, and survive.
The problem is that we then conflate price with value. We then live in a world of depreciating value. All that we have is worth less each day we exist. It is a depressing method of determining worth and by extension value. Ultimately we arrive at a place where all that we possess is bereft of value, and is worthless.
The materialistic worldview then tells us to go and obtain more things of greater worth/price. It then becomes a vicious cycle that always ends in the same place, bankruptcy. Not in that legal proceeding sense of of the word, but in that place where all we have and all we ever hope to have is of no worth, no value.
As if this cycle weren't pernicious enough, it becomes even more vexing and dangerous when we apply this logic to people, or even ourselves. When we apply value to people by the yardstick of price, we disregard all other factors that work into this equation. And we disregard the intrinsic value of the person. We fail to regard the work product of the divine appropriately. We fail to see into the eyes of those we value inappropriately the face of the creator looking back at us.
PSALMS 139: 13-15
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because
I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
(New International Version quoted from Bible Gateway: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%20139&version=NIV)
The hand of the Almighty crafts each and every single one of us. And that crafting is missed in the price equals value method of determining worth. It misses that the manual laborer is of the same value, as the CEO, as the politician, as the doctor, as the lawyer. It seeks to value only price and ignore all else. It approaches life from the motto "if it costs more it must be better." And we embrace this equation at our peril.
We need to shift away from this method. We need to see that the barista that gets our morning coffee. The waitress that takes our lunch order. The teacher that educates our children. All are at least equal to our own worth. We need to see value as intrinsic to the person. We to SEE them as they are see by our GOD. Their value is determined and derived by their creator.
This means that they are deserving of our respect. They are deserving of a dignity not defined by the zeroes in a bank account or their hourly wage. It means more than a grudging deference to what they can do for us. It means seeing them as God sees them. It means valuing them with the distinct worth that God places on them. It means seeing that God created something that he called Good. It means grasping that we are all fearfully and wonderfully made. And in His eyes we all live, thrive, and survive.
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