Violence Rage Manslaughter Murder
Trafficking Slavery Exploitation
Oppression Injustice
Defrauding Harassment Abuse
Threats Bullying Intimidation Slander
These are everyday terms! We know what they mean: sometimes too well. We can probably add to the list. I wish we couldn’t. God doesn’t like it and it hurts us individually and as a society. It hurts us at many levels, including spiritual.
This post offers a deeper look at Life Pursuit 1 in The Most Important Life Pursuits. Life Pursuit 1 is: Recognize that everyone is valuable.
One year after COVID-19 directed us to look at others with compassion, do we value people any more than we did before? Judging by what’s going on in the world, maybe not.
Do we need to be told that everyone is valuable?
Maybe we do. We may not be perpetrators of heinous crimes or egregious offenses, but are we guilty of what we may consider to be the lesser offenses in my opening paragraph? Do we value everyone?
Do we remember how God values people?
Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…
Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them…
This man receives sinners and eats with them…
What man of you, having a hundred sheep,
if he has lost one of them,
does not leave the ninety-nine…
and go after the one that is lost?…
How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you…
I know the plans I have for you…
plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future…
He will wipe every tear from their eyes.
There will be no more death
or mourning or crying or pain…
God so loved the world…
Genesis 1:26, Mark 10:14, Luke 15:2-4,
Psalm 139:17-18, Jeremiah 29:11, Revelation 21:4, John 3:16
Do we remember that Jesus came to earth for all people, and suffered and died for all people?
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins,
and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
…the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
…who gave himself as a ransom for all people…
…we have put our hope in the living God,
who is the Savior of all people…
1 John 2:2, 1 John 4:14, 1Timothy 2:6, 1 Timothy 4:10
Do we remember what Jesus expects of us?
My command is this:
Love each other as I have loved you.
Greater love has no one that this:
to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
Jesus commanded us to love and sacrifice, and He showed us what He meant. At Easter time we remember the passion of Christ, how Jesus was committed so fervently to a cause that He was willing to suffer and die to accomplish it.
His cause was to unite us with Him and His Father, not to divide us. His cause was to show His kindness and compassion by dying for people who rejected Him, and for people who lived in a manner unworthy of His sacrifice. His cause was to sacrifice His life for all of us and break us free from the chains of sin and death. His cause was to rise from His grave to demonstrate that death and the physical and supernatural powers of this world could not defeat Him. His cause was to do the will of His Father and invite us into life everlasting with Him. The passion of Christ was not just zeal. It was purposeful, magnanimous, effective, and eternal.
Yet we look down on those whom He loves. We compare and live out the illusion that we’re better than others. We manipulate circumstances to get the better end of the stick. Instead of honoring people, we take what’s best for ourselves. We cut in front of people. We give them dirty looks and a piece of our mind. We spit on them, punch them, beat them, and take their vehicles. We consider ourselves superior, not only because of the color of our skin, but also because we dress better, we have better jobs and drive better cars, our friends are more popular, and we attend a “better” church and manifest the more visible spiritual gifts. What will it be like when we eventually become divided with opposing privileges based on our COVID vaccination status?
Do we need to be told to value people?
Maybe we do. Maybe we don’t realize the magnitude of the greatest commandment that Jesus reiterated and demonstrated. He loves His Father and He obeyed Him (John 14:31). He loves all people and He laid down His life for them. He fulfilled the greatest commandments:
Love the Lord your God with all you heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind…
Love your neighbor as you love yourself.
If we love God, we will love people.
If we don’t love people, we need to consider whether we truly love God.
Do you remember where self-love began? It was in the Garden of Eden – not with Adam. The Garden is probably where Satan began to notice his own beauty. He loved himself more than he loved God. He even wanted to sit on a throne like God (Ezekiel 28:12-17, Isaiah 14:13-14). It’s no wonder that he returned to the Garden to incite Adam’s self-gratification, self-love, and self-preservation. And, so began our natural tendency to turn our attention inward and away from others. Self-focus fuels the fallacy that other people often stand in the way of our own priorities.
If we call ourselves followers of Jesus, we have the life-giving power to step away from self-gratification and self-preservation and to become more and more like our loving Savior. We have what we need to turn the other cheek and offer the shirts off our backs. We have a Holy Spirit who molds us with compassion and camaraderie. We can love others more than ourselves.
We need to love others more than ourselves
Greater love has no one that this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friend (John 15:13). Jesus laid down His life for every person. God sent Jesus to die, not only for Israel, but for every nation, tribe, and people group on earth, past, present, and future. There is no superior race. There never was.
Do we believe it? Do we live it?
Do we see people as those whom Jesus loves and for whom Jesus died? Do people see compassion in our words and actions? Do they see it in our eyes? Do they find grace and forgiveness in our demeanor?
Do we value people?
Will they find the gospel when they encounter us?
For more on the value of others, read my post about bias and prejudice: Do We Appreciate the Many Colors?
Read the other 3 life pursuits and the intro:
Intro: The Most Important Life Pursuits
2. Am I Always Right?
3. Align with God
4. Trust Jesus. It’s Time.
If you have questions about Jesus and His unbiased love for people of all generations, please email me at authordlv@att.net. He looks beyond the color of our skin, meets our eyes, and understands our hearts.
Read more blog posts here.
THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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