The Christian Who Values Life

In the last month, we have seen a massive debate over the issue of abortion grow larger and larger. In some ways, this has been great as many Christians are now more involved in pro-life organizations, and more Christians are making pro-life arguments in the public square. Sadly, the opposite is also happening. Any time cultural pressures mount, Christians feel the pressure to abandon the Biblical view in favor of acceptance from the culture at large. Often in the Christian community, the phrase “sanctity of life” is thrown around to encompass opposition to abortion, but, in reality, it covers so much more than just opposing abortion. The phrase “sanctity of life” puts the value of life back in its rightful place, at the pinnacle of creation. This then begs the question that all Christians should be asking: How do we know that human life is the most valuable aspect in all of creation? In order to answer this question, we must turn our attention to the Scriptures:

Genesis 1:26-27

26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

From the opening pages of the Bible, God declares the value of human life. In verse 26 of Genesis 1, we read these key words, “let us make man in our image.” God placed His human representative in Adam and Eve in the perfect Garden of Eden. The deduction up to this point is that God has done something unique in creating this human life because it is the only thing in the entire created order that is said to carry this divine fingerprint. While all of creation is directly created by God, humanity alone is created with the image of God placed on it.

We know this to be true because God then sets humanity over the rest of the created order and instructs them to exercise dominion over the creation. We also know this to be true because God repeats himself in verse 27 as once again creating man in his image. God is not forgetful, so this representation must be a literary device to give emphasis to his claim about humanity. This will not be the only time in Genesis that God will declare the image of God to be an inherent part of humanity. Genesis 5 and Genesis 9 give us more clear pronouncements that humanity is made in the image of God.

New Testament

At this point, we might be tempted to brush away this idea of the image of God as simply an Old Testament concept that does not continue to apply to us who live on the other side of the Old Testament. However, the clearest and most direct connection is found in James 3:9,

9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God.

Here James is teaching the use of the tongue and encouraging Christians to be mindful of how they speak to fellow humans made in the image of God. Because people are made in the image of God, Christians are to be sensitive to speak and treat each person they come into contact with, regardless of their status before Christ, as being valuable due to who created them.

In addition to this reference, an interesting argument is being made in the New Testament: Christians are to be conformed to the image of God. The New Testament shows us that sin has marred the image of God, and after we are saved, we are being conformed or changed back into the image of the one who created us.

Today

What does all of this mean for today’s world? I think it means Christians understand and engage in the world around us as we actually believe what the Bible says about human beings. So it practically begins with the unborn child in the womb. We defend life at all costs on the basis that the unborn child is made in the image of God and, as such, has worth, dignity, and value. We acknowledge that this fact is tied to the Scriptures and isn’t based on any societal standards. We don’t devalue a life simply because it is a different race, will be in a different socioeconomic bracket, or the political leanings of its mother. Life is life and has value because God says so.

Christians should stay on the front lines of engagement from the womb to birth and children. Obviously, the big two that are talked about in the abortion debate are adoption and foster care. Christians should champion these things, but not every Christian will be able to do so. How can Christians be involved in valuing life beyond arguing against abortion, adoption, and foster care?

The reality is that valuing life is seen in helping kids flourish, so getting involved in the community is a great place to start. Many children participate in public schools that have free and reduced lunch programs. When churches and  Christians volunteer to provide kids with food so that they don’t worry about going hungry when they leave school, we show that we value their lives.

In addition to providing kids with opportunities for food, there are after-school programs that many Christians could be involved in to help share Christ and serve kids. First, we should consider things like Good News Clubs. These after-school clubs share the Gospel with kids while simultaneously investing in kids by being a mentor and someone who cares about them. Second, consider community programs that seek to help even if they are not connected to a church or parachurch ministries. We continue to value life at every chance we have.

While kids are an important part of valuing life, they are not the only ones who need their life to valued. Even as adults, we need to ensure that we value the lives of the adults around us. We can do this in a couple of ways. First, our churches should be known as a refuge for those who experience pregnancies that they were unprepared for. In addition to caring for the child, Christians and churches help the parent(s) as they navigate uncharted water for themselves. This can be done in a variety of ways and is not necessarily just physical needs. Christians must always remember that they seek to minister to the whole person, which will naturally mean we will engage them with the Gospel.

From there, we move to be aware and engage with the community that is hurting and struggling to make ends meet. This means being aware of the homeless within our community and those affected by the effects of substance abuse. Beyond that, sometimes in life, people just struggle to afford to live. In each of these cases, the church is aware that serving people who are affected in these ways is an opportunity to minister not only to the people who are hurting but preserve some dignity of the individual because we see that they are valuable. A cautionary word to the church must be to ensure that people are treated with dignity and that our resource engagement is a hand-up, not just a handout.

Finally, Christians must continue to strengthen their theology of end-of-life care. In our society and culture, there is a rising thought that people should be able to end their life if they or someone around them determines it is less than worth continuing to preserve them. Christians who truly value life are going to stand with an aging population and declare that those lives have value as well. A society that devalues the aged population and their contributions to society devalues the work that they have done up to this point in their life as well as disregards Scripture:

Proverbs 16:31: The silver-haired head is a crown of glory, If it is found in the way of righteousness.

So naturally, as a church and as Christians, we will want to make sure that we are doing all that we can to protect those in our community who would be discriminated against because of their age at the end of life. We ought to work hard to preserve the work they have done to help our churches and communities be where they are.

Conclusion

Christians are responsible for ensuring that they value all of life, not just because it is something we have advocated for with babies but because the Bible tells us to value all of life. When we rightfully understand who the creator and maker of life is, we will naturally seek to value what is valuable to Him. Every day that God blesses us with is a day where we can respect and value the lives around us, knowing that they are like the song we sang in Sunday School, “precious in His sight.”

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