IT'S WORTH IT TO CARE!
You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. Ex. 20:13-15, N.I.V.
Life is cheap on Planet Earth. We see it snuffed out night after night on television--either on the news or on the latest crime drama. Pictures of dead bodies are commonly displayed in every weekly news magazine. And because it is so common, we hardly flinch at the gore, the inhumanness, the waste of lives that is epidemic. And people sometimes wonder, Does God care?
Life is cheap, all right. Even when it isn't snuffed out. The value of our individuality is constantly diminished with the bombardment of profane sensuality through advertisements, the "top forty" hit songs and countless other avenues to our senses. We are reduced to bodies--never mind our conscience or even our consciousness. And again people wonder, What is it all for?
But life is expensive, too--outrageously so! Even the rich are hurting. And the little guy? Well, he goes to bed at night with knots in his stomach, wondering where the ends even are, let alone if they'll ever meet. It's no wonder that theft is second nature to multitudes of people. It's more than taking things; it creeps over into taking positions, and reputations, and beating someone to the checkout stand at the supermarket. And we all wonder, at times, whether or not we care anymore.
Yes, God cares! He beholds our plight and reaches right down to our tiredness and lifts up our sense of personal worth. Life is of utmost value! It is more than the process of blood surging through arteries and veins. Who we are in these bodies of ours matters. Our heartaches are not merely second-class pulp novels like those that overflow bookcases, grocery stores, and airport terminals. We are real, and reality is where God lives. And when we understand and embrace Him, we embrace reality. Then people count! Their lives, in every dimension, matter. And we know that we matter too--and we can stop wondering.
That's what it means to be brought out of slavery, the kind of slavery that demotes life until it is worth less than the effort to keep it functioning. It is freedom to interface with the greatest reality mankind can know: God is our Father, and He chooses us to be His friends! We can know Him, and in knowing Him we will see ourselves as He sees us. And we will love one another as He has loved us.
You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. Ex. 20:13-15, N.I.V.
Life is cheap on Planet Earth. We see it snuffed out night after night on television--either on the news or on the latest crime drama. Pictures of dead bodies are commonly displayed in every weekly news magazine. And because it is so common, we hardly flinch at the gore, the inhumanness, the waste of lives that is epidemic. And people sometimes wonder, Does God care?
Life is cheap, all right. Even when it isn't snuffed out. The value of our individuality is constantly diminished with the bombardment of profane sensuality through advertisements, the "top forty" hit songs and countless other avenues to our senses. We are reduced to bodies--never mind our conscience or even our consciousness. And again people wonder, What is it all for?
But life is expensive, too--outrageously so! Even the rich are hurting. And the little guy? Well, he goes to bed at night with knots in his stomach, wondering where the ends even are, let alone if they'll ever meet. It's no wonder that theft is second nature to multitudes of people. It's more than taking things; it creeps over into taking positions, and reputations, and beating someone to the checkout stand at the supermarket. And we all wonder, at times, whether or not we care anymore.
Yes, God cares! He beholds our plight and reaches right down to our tiredness and lifts up our sense of personal worth. Life is of utmost value! It is more than the process of blood surging through arteries and veins. Who we are in these bodies of ours matters. Our heartaches are not merely second-class pulp novels like those that overflow bookcases, grocery stores, and airport terminals. We are real, and reality is where God lives. And when we understand and embrace Him, we embrace reality. Then people count! Their lives, in every dimension, matter. And we know that we matter too--and we can stop wondering.
That's what it means to be brought out of slavery, the kind of slavery that demotes life until it is worth less than the effort to keep it functioning. It is freedom to interface with the greatest reality mankind can know: God is our Father, and He chooses us to be His friends! We can know Him, and in knowing Him we will see ourselves as He sees us. And we will love one another as He has loved us.
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