"But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man.
"Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed;
for in the image of God
has God made man."
He specifies that it's wrong to kill humans because we're made in God's image.
My footnote adds that "all people possess the qualities that distinguish them from animals: morality, reason, creativity, and self-worth."
Self-worth... It seems to be one of the biggest things that Christians struggle with is our self-worth. I wonder if it's because we define what it is by other things. Essentially, we define many things by the way "the world" does.
(side note: we talk alot about "the world" and how they do things, but really what I think it is that we're saying is that we're using the same reasoning as if we didn't believe there is a God. We're taking the same basic human-powered logic that they are. We're taking ultimately the hopelessness approach. If there were no God, then we would only have at best 100 years to our existence. We would have to try to push ahead to just be happy here and now. If things weren't perfect in our job, family, education we would have to push ahead. When things looked down, something goes wrong, someone is terminally ill, where would you turn? You would just have to hope that human effort would be enough. That somehow either you or I, or some random person could do something that would cause something to change enough to free us from our situation.
But we do believe there is a God. We do believe that God is in control and all powerful. We believe that he is not defined by human logic or constrained by it. We believe that ultimately he is good and that he is Holy, and nothing he does would go against this/His character. So in saying all of this we have hope in every situation, when houses burn down, when dad's are abusive, when we caught in depression, when we're caught in a foreign country in jail, when the cancer has come back and doctors don't know what to do, when our bad habits get us caught in the same place over and over again, when there's too much to do in a day, when nothing we do seems to be good enough, when the harder we try the less things seem to go right, - it's things like this that we know human strength and logic fails. That we know there is a God because we've seen him do the impossible. When human ability gave out and gave up, then suddenly the situation turns around, we know that there's a God.
So pretty much as a result of this side note rant: when we do things the way the world does, we're taking the hopeless approach. We're taking the results based off of human strength, logic, and ability, and forgetting that there is someone much bigger than us controlling things. )
Self-worth... It seems to be one of the biggest things that Christians struggle with is our self-worth. I wonder if it's because we define what it is by other things. Essentially, we define many things by the way "the world" does.
(side note: we talk alot about "the world" and how they do things, but really what I think it is that we're saying is that we're using the same reasoning as if we didn't believe there is a God. We're taking the same basic human-powered logic that they are. We're taking ultimately the hopelessness approach. If there were no God, then we would only have at best 100 years to our existence. We would have to try to push ahead to just be happy here and now. If things weren't perfect in our job, family, education we would have to push ahead. When things looked down, something goes wrong, someone is terminally ill, where would you turn? You would just have to hope that human effort would be enough. That somehow either you or I, or some random person could do something that would cause something to change enough to free us from our situation.
But we do believe there is a God. We do believe that God is in control and all powerful. We believe that he is not defined by human logic or constrained by it. We believe that ultimately he is good and that he is Holy, and nothing he does would go against this/His character. So in saying all of this we have hope in every situation, when houses burn down, when dad's are abusive, when we caught in depression, when we're caught in a foreign country in jail, when the cancer has come back and doctors don't know what to do, when our bad habits get us caught in the same place over and over again, when there's too much to do in a day, when nothing we do seems to be good enough, when the harder we try the less things seem to go right, - it's things like this that we know human strength and logic fails. That we know there is a God because we've seen him do the impossible. When human ability gave out and gave up, then suddenly the situation turns around, we know that there's a God.
So pretty much as a result of this side note rant: when we do things the way the world does, we're taking the hopeless approach. We're taking the results based off of human strength, logic, and ability, and forgetting that there is someone much bigger than us controlling things. )
After that really long side note, (which is probably the point of why God lead me down this side tangent road), I kept thinking about how we define our self-worth. I mean God says he created us in his image, and we best not be killing any body because we're killing the image of Him. I mean we were meant to be His, His children, His people, His loved ones, His bride. I've obviously never been a bride, but in the relationships I have been, how sweet has it been to be taken care of and loved by someone. I mean not even romantic relationships but just friendship relationships. When you know someone's got your back no matter what. I know how I've wanted to be able to treat some people like they were a princess (I usually fail at that, or get yelled at for it), but to know that passion and care that you have for someone that God has that for us, for me, for you. And that he has the ability to fulfill it. And he gets yelled at all the time for taking care of people because he won't let them do what they want or his love is too much for him, but he doesn't stop. He won't relent.
I just wonder how much lack of self-worth comes from us trying to find it in every other place. I mean the very fact that we're made in the image of God and because of that God has set up rules how to treat each other puts us pretty high up there.
I think part of the issue is when we get down or start believing lies or just focus on us more than him, then I start comparing myself to others. "Yeah, well we're all made in the image of Christ, but how does that make me any more special. I'm just like everyone else." I wonder "What I have to contribute? What could I do that someone else can't. What's my purpose in this situation? What is it that I can do that someone else can't, what's my impact and why am I in this situation?" But again, I guess this focuses on me and what I can do. It's not focusing on God and what He's doing. It makes me think that I'm doing it by my power. I don't realize that whenever something happens using me, that's it's all God doing the work and not me. So in that facet I guess the struggle with self worth comes from the over focus on SELF rather than the self we we're created after.
I think in other ways, we're just still comparing the two separate works of art. What people know or understand is one thing, so we push forward to gain what someone who has power has said is good/or pretty. Someone who has temporary power (pop star, politician, musician, news reporter) but miss the flow of absolute power and what He says. When he says, "I created you with perfect looks, perfect talents, the perfect abilities, the perfect strengths and weaknesses for what your life's purpose is." and we probably come back with "Yeah, well, I won't want to have to wait that long to see. I'm not patient enough. I want to feel better, know why, be better now." I mean, ultimately, that's what we're saying.
So in the end. Well, the end for today, I think it kinda comes down to the fact we get caught looking at us rather than Him. That we're made in the image of God. That means he comes first, and when we get done gazing at him we can look at ourself (if that ever happens). Also, I think we focus too much on what we're doing and not what God is doing in the situation or in our lives or in our "abilities." These are two actions I see, I think the problem/heart behind it is the fact that we just don't understand what God thinks about us. We don't understand how much he loves us. That he is obsessively, overly passionate about us. I could go on a long time about how much he loves us, but I think I've written enough or too much already, so I'll just end this with two songs.
"Sea of Faces" by Kutless - (from the bridge)
"If only my one heart
Was all you'd gain from all it cost
Well I know you would have still been a man
With a reason
To willingly offer your life"
Was all you'd gain from all it cost
Well I know you would have still been a man
With a reason
To willingly offer your life"
"How He Loves" - David Crowder Band (from the bridge)
"And Heaven meets earth like an unforseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…
He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us!"
Oh! how He loves us!"
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