Getting Your Values Straight

I was shocked and appalled to read some time ago an account of a murder which took place in Atlanta. The murderer stated that he killed the man in the den of his home. Then he said, “What I really hated was messing up that beautiful Persian rug.”

Can you imagine? No remorse over his heinous crime; no concern for the person whose life he had snuffed out. But, he was bothered about messing up a rug. How warped can a person’s values get? Yet, doesn’t this tell us something about what has happened to people’s values too often today?

When God created the heavens and the earth and all material, physical things, He pronounced them “good.” But when He had created humankind, He pronounced His cre­ation “very good.” (Gen. 1:31)

Only of mankind does the Bible say, “And God blessed them.” To man God gave rule and stewardship over all other aspects of the created order. (Gen. 1:28-30)

Thus, human life is the most precious thing in this world. Persons are what really should be prized, highly valued. If we truly believe in God and in His Word, then we must see human life as precious.

It has been rightly said that we should love people and use things; but, sadly, we often do just the opposite: use people and love things. Wherever this is true, there will continue to be senseless tragedies in this world.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash