Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | I am come that ye might have life.  John 5:21

What is the value of a human life?  There is enough phosphorous in the human body to tip twenty-two hundred matches, enough iron to make a small nail, enough fat to make seven bars of soap (in some cases a few more than that); enough calcium to whitewash a chicken coop; enough sulfur to delouse a dog and enough sugar to fill a small bowl.  But, is not life worth a great deal more than a few elements from a periodic chart?

Long ago, I was in Dallas the day Cathy Fiscus, then three years old, fell into an abandoned well. Immediately the media quickly began to cover the story of rescue operations.  For a number of hours, the life of the little girl hung in the balance as vast sums of money and hundreds of man-hours were expended in the rescue operation.  Around the world cables and telephone calls volunteered money and assistance.  A little girl trapped in an abandoned well caught the sympathy of a world.  Suppose that it had taken a million dollars or even two million dollars to rescue her, would it have been worth it?  Would any child’s life be worth such an expense?  If this had been your child, you would say without a thought, “Sure, it is worth it!”

When a human life is at stake, absolutely nothing is spared to save that life.  The value of human life cannot be measured in monetary terms.  Your life is worth more than all the money in all the banks of the world.  I believe that I can show you why.

There are some things that money cannot buy.  When you have a loved one in the hospital, you would spend the last bit of money you have to save that person’s life.  The wealthiest people in the world face the same sorrows and heartaches that the poorest also face.  When the life of someone you love hangs in the balance, often there is little that you or I can do.  Doctors may be able to sustain life, but when the human heart stops no one can recreate life.

That insight helps you to understand how God views your life.  He looked on your helplessness and inability to create eternal life, so God said, “I’ll send my Son to provide eternal life for you.  I’ll do for you what you can never do yourself.”  Remember? God alone creates life.  In the beginning God breathed into your body the breath of life, and you became a living person (soul).  The difference between your life and lower forms of existence is that you have a human soul that will never cease to live.  You will live on and on–somewhere–forever.  Jesus Himself told us why He came when He said, “I am come that ye might have life!” (John 5:21).

OK, then what is the value of a human soul?  In God’s eyes, it was worth the very death of His Son.  Providing life for you cost God His very best, His one and only Son. Amidst the fantastic achievements of our day there is a tendency to minimize the individual.  You are one of some seven billion, about as significant among the masses as a grain of sand is on a beach.  But in God’s eyes you are an individual who is important, and He loves you just as you are.  You were born as an individual, and apart from the masses, you will die alone.  Your life is important to God.  You are so important that God sent His Son to be your Savior.  Yes, I mean, individually you can say, “I know that Christ is my personal Savior.”

The Bible asks, “How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?” (Hebrews 2:3).  When it comes to a question of life and death, nothing of material value is as important as human life.  It’s something we must never forget.

Resource reading:  Luke 15:1-10