Every life matters. This is our 2020 theme for the New Life Clinic. Three simple words with enormous meaning.
I’d like to say that people in general believe and practice this notion, but my faith in humanity sometimes wanes. Watching the 6 o’clock news every evening has probably fueled my skepticism.
Shootings and child abuse and sex trafficking scream “I am in control and you can’t stop me!” The perpetrator defies the fact that every life matters, leaving the victim to question his/her value and to try to rebuild a damaged life.
As a Christian, when I get discouraged and wonder about how things have gotten so bad, how people can so de-value other human lives, I go to the Bible for answers. Just opening the Book to page one and reading the first 10 words fills me with a sense of peace: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
This tells me there is a God and He created. Further down in the chapter I read that “He created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
Human beings are the only part of creation that are created in the image of God. In God’s economy, every human life DOES matter because every one of us was created in His own image. We have His signature, His stamp, His personal touch on our lives.
Allow that truth to settle in light of your own life and I guarantee your perspective will change.
You have value because you were created in God’s image. Your life matters. Every life matters.
King David wrote in the Psalms, “Thou didst form my inward parts; Thou didst weave me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Thy works, and my soul knows it very well” (Psalm 139:13-14).
Once again, this truth settles my unrest and gives me comfort. I have value, my life matters because I am fearfully made. Even in the womb, my body was woven together by the Creator’s hand.
My life matters. Every life matters.
Looking forward into the New Testament, the story is the same. To bring things to a heightened level, God demonstrates His love for His creation by taking on human form and becoming one of us. He values every life, and to prove it, He (the Word) “became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory” (John 1:14).
Yes, in astounding fashion and to prove to us humans that He places tremendous value on our lives, He took “the form of a bond-servant… And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:7-8).
It matters so much that your Creator did not want to spend eternity without you. He values you so much that He was willing to send His son, Jesus, to this earth to save you from your sin and take your penalty for sin upon Himself.
If you feel discouraged or troubled by the world around you, if you feel discontent in your own circumstances, if you wonder if your life matters at all, go to the Bible for answers.
Here you will discover truth like you’ve never known. You’ll come face to face with a God who created this world, who fearfully and wonderfully created you, and who wants you to know that your life matters to Him.
He died, proving it to us all.
Your life matters. Every life matters.
Sherry Weller is Executive Director of New Life Clinic in Wilmington.
