We have all seen the following tagline shouted, posted and displayed in so many different ways:
________________ lives matter!
No matter how you fill in the blank, the statement carries equal amounts of truth.
Black lives matter.
White lives matter.
Police lives matter.
Hispanic lives matter.
Disenfranchised lives matter.
Gay lives matter.
Outcast lives matter.
Female lives matter.
Male lives matter.
Young lives matter.
Old lives matter.
Terminally ill lives matter.
Unborn lives matter.
But, what is the basis for that statement? Certainly a meaningless, purposeless existence resulting from a Darwinian evolutionary philosophy cannot provide a basis for any of those statements to be made. There is simply no room for any of these statements within the idea of Survival of the Fittest.
The basis of that statement, however, no matter how you fill in the blank, can be found in the opening chapter of God’s Word, the Bible.
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” … So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:26-27
Every person, every life, has dignity because that life has been created by God, in the image of God.
I heard one of the most profound statements a couple of weeks ago from an older gentleman in a video series our Sunday School class is currently watching. He said, “You don’t give dignity to a person; you affirm it.” How incredibly true. Every single person has dignity, and because that dignity is from God we could never give what has already been attributed by him. But we can, and should, affirm it. In everyone. No matter who they are.
Everyone has worth. Everyone has value. Everyone is worthy of dignity. Even though we may disagree, we must affirm the dignity in every person. Even though we must stand on Truth and expose sin, we must affirm the dignity of every person.
Not a bad commitment to make as we ring in a New Year.
know. be. do. 