The value of a human soul
Back in 2014, Antiques Road Show came to Boston and a woman brought in a collection of baseball cards to be appraised. She explained that back in 1871 her great-great-grandmother operated a boarding house and provided housing for the newly established Boston Red Stockings. Her great-great-grandfather collected a baseball card from each player and she had a signed note from each one, including future hall-of-famers, Harry and George Wright and Albert Spaulding. The collection had sentimental value, but she had no idea of its actual worth. The professional appraiser, commented that it was the greatest archive that she had ever appraised for the show and estimated the collection was worth at least one-million dollars!
We often fail to recognize the true value of things. This is especially true when we have a low opinion of other people. The Psalmist wrote: “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.” (Psalms 8:3-5 ESV)
“We often fail to recognize the true value of things. This is especially true when we have a low opinion of other people.”
Astronomers tell us that light travels 186,000 miles per second. In other words, in one second, light can circle the earth 7 and ½ times! In one year, light travels approximately six trillion miles. Our minds can’t comprehend such a colossal distance, but that is nothing compared to the size of the universe. Astronomers calculate that it would take 156 billion years for light to travel from one end to the other! In comparison to the immense universe, human beings are miniscule, nanoscopic specks. And yet, God cares for us! That proves that human beings are very, very valuable to God.
Several years ago, my wife was grieved when she discovered that the diamond had fallen out of her engagement ring. We searched everywhere for it. I took apart the pipes under the kitchen sink to see if the diamond had gone down the drain: It wasn’t there. I carefully vacuumed every square inch of our house, cut open the vacuum cleaner bag, emptied all the dust into a pan, and carefully sifted though it searching for her missing diamond. But we never found it. In terms of size, that diamond was very small, the tiniest object my wife owned. But, it was also her most precious possession. In the same way, in comparison to the planets and stars all across the universe, people are very tiny specks. But to God, every person is like a highly precious and valuable jewel. That is the true value of a human soul.
Sam Taylor serves as the Boston area regional coordinator at the Baptist Convention of New England.
