Thought for Today
Genesis 2:7 then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.
Psalm 6:4 Turn, O Lord, save my life; deliver me for the sake of your steadfast love.
John 1:4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.
John 10:10 I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly
The theme this week in the devotional guide These Days has been “A Worthy Life.” That theme has led me to wonder whether some lives are worthy and some lives are unworthy. I’m not thinking in terms of the accomplishments of some lives contrasted with the accomplishments of other lives. Rather, I am thinking about the worthiness of life itself.
It is not coincidental that the Bible begins, “Genesis 1:1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,” Our Creator God is the source of all which is. Life, inanimate and animate things, everything ultimately has its source in God. Just to make sure we don’t miss the point, Genesis 2:7 makes it inescapably clear that life is a gift from God. For me, life is literally the breath of God. So, I wonder, can life itself ever be unworthy?
The author of this week’s devotional reflections in These Days never specifically defines life or specifically defines what constitutes a ‘worthy life.’ How does one measure worthiness? What are the units of measurement? Is worthiness measured in pounds, feet, ergs or angstroms? Whatever the units, how many are required to achieve worthiness?
Who gets to measure? Who decides the worthiness of one life versus another? And what are the benefits of achieving sufficient ‘worthiness?’ Scripture does not offer us any specifics other than in verses such as, “Psalm 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.” Admittedly, that promise should be enough to inculcate worthiness in us all.
In fact, the Bible does not address life and worthiness directly in very many verses. A word search using my Bible software only yielded 3 verses including the words worthy and life, all in the New Testament.
Yet, in a very real sense, the entire Bible is about honoring the gift of life, the gift of our receiving the breath of God. I believe that from the perspective of life as the breath of God, all life is worthy, in and of itself. The issue of worthiness is truly in terms of what we do with the gift God freely gives each of us.
The worthiness of our lives is not measured in worldly metrics, not defined by money, titles, accomplishments we list on our resumes. That is not what Jesus meant when he spoke about the ‘abundant life.’ Of course, Christians are not anti-money. We do not hate money. Neither do we hate titles or accomplishments. We merely understand that none of them are the metrics by which God measures what we have done with our God-given gift of life.
The apostle Paul wrote about the gifts of the Spirit and about the attributes of lives filled with faith in Jesus as the Christ. Today’s devotion in These Days is based on Ephesians 4:1-16. Read those verses; note humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in love, unity of the Spirit, the bond of peace. Those are all attributes of faith-filled, worthy lives.
Read Paul’s letters to the church in Corinth, especially 1 Corinthians chapters 12 & 13. Read those words remembering Jesus’ definition of the greatest commandment, "Luke 10:27 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." As you read your Bible and think about the attributes of a worthy, faith-filled life, remember, “1 Corinthians 13:13 And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” The greatest is love.
Stay safe, live lives of love, trust God,
Pastor Ray