In recent months, there have been a number of events around the world that beg the question, does society really value people?
In March, armed men attacked a boarding school in Yobe, Nigeria, and killed 29 boys.
On April 14, in Chibok, Nigeria, some 200 girls were abducted. Families were told the girls would be sold into marriages and who knows what else. The world watched helplessly as government officials said they couldn’t find this crew of evil kidnappers. Unbelievable! Militaries around the world own highly sophisticated equipment, yet these outback machine gun-carrying men with their pickup trucks can’t be found. How much effort is put into finding these girls? Is it equal to the amount of resources poured into finding the downed Malaysian airliner with 239 people on board?
Do we value people ... or just certain people?
All people have value. Period. Why? Because someone greater than us created us in His image. Being an image-bearer of God makes us valuable. This is where human value begins and ends. If it doesn’t, we will come up with our own value system for treating people. This could be called a consumerist approach — we value a human based on what that person could add to my life.
I’m reminded of the lyrics to a Metallica song ...“Who made you God to say I’ll take your life from you?”
That is what society collectively is doing with its value system, isn’t it? We save the ones that we find have some value, be it economic or media-based or the way the story touches our lives. We work hard to find the plane because we all fly, but we don’t search too hard for these girls. We pick and choose.
The Bible proclaims an unchanging truth: People are of equal value because they are created in God’s image. Those young Nigerian girls are to be treasured as much as our own children.