The Value of a Soul - Martin Wiles

So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God, he created them; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27 NLT

I had never heard such a statement—nor had anyone in my class.

A plane crash has just killed basketball legend, Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and several other people. Many mourned this tragedy, including students at our school. As I took morning prayer requests, the first two related to praying for Kobe’s family.

But one wise youngster said, “The plane had other people on it, too.”

And that’s also when the unbelievable comment followed: “But they weren’t important.”

The comment shocked me, initially, so much so that I couldn’t speak for a moment. Everyone else in the class experienced the same shock.

I could not help myself. The teacher and adult in me came out. “God may not have cared that Kobe Bryant played basketball.”

If I know God as I think I do, I believe He would have cared more about whether Kobe had a relationship with Jesus Christ, whether he was a good husband and dad, and whether he used his skills and talents to promote the love of Christ in his world. I made my point with the self-centered young girl, and I hope she got it. In her mind, Kobe’s value lay only in playing basketball well.

Value is a funny thing. Something can have value and hold no worth. The opposite can also hold true. Something can have no value but become valuable.

My wife and I often saw this happen at antique auctions. Occasionally, an ugly item would come up for bid but initially receive no bids. Our auctioneer friend knew the solution to the problem. “If you buy this, you will be the only person with one.”

Once he said that, hands shot up, and bids poured in. Suddenly, something that held no value sold for unbelievable money because the scenario changed.

Economics calls this supply and demand. Prices drop when a large supply of something exists, but no one wants it. But prices rise if a limited supply exists and many people want it. Value is not always determined by the item itself but by who wants it and how many people crave it.

Value works differently with people, too. What others think I’m worth doesn’t matter. The writer of Genesis said God created people in His image. We are not identical to God, but we resemble Him in many ways. We can think, feel, love, and show emotion. The image of God in us makes us valuable.

The value of a soul hinges on whom we belong to. Having God as our creator doesn’t necessarily mean we belong to Him. The connection comes through faith in Christ. When that happens, we enter His family and become His child, not just His creation.

My Dad’s hobby was woodworking. He built many beautiful items, but if they didn’t come into his home, they were only his creations, not his personal property.

Value is further determined by what God says about us. He says we belong to Him and that no one can snatch us from His hand. No person or circumstance holds enough power to overpower God’s strong arm that holds us safely in His care.

My young students confused identity with performance. In her mind, Kobe held more importance than the others on the plane because he had fame in the basketball world. God, on the other hand, says our value has nothing to do with what we do but with who we are. And in Christ, we belong to the heavenly Father. That determines our value. Our doing is only proof of our appreciation for what God has done in our lives. We serve because of Who has served us.

Don’t determine your worth by what you do, but by whom you belong to.

Father, may I realize that You determine my true worth through my connection to You. 

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No Deposit, No Return - Martin Wiles

He has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us. 2 Corinthians 1:22 NLT

They lay alongside the roadside, waiting for a lawnmower to crush them or some boy to pick them up and return them to a store for the deposit money.

Once upon a time, before manufacturers of soda decided to package their product in aluminum or plastic, they placed it in glass. And on the bottle, manufacturers stamped the words, “Return for Deposit.” Retailers, and then customers who bought the product, paid a small deposit—three to five cents. If they returned the bottle to any retailer, the retailer would return the deposit to them.

My cousin, who lived in the country, always looked for ways to make money. When I spent time with him during the summers, I joined in his escapades. One involved picking up bottles. From his house to the nearest small town was about one mile. He took one side of the road, and I took the other. By the time we reached town, both of us had found a few bottles lying along the roadside. We took them to Bert’s farm store, and he gave us five cents per bottle. Doesn’t seem like much now, but then a quarter went much further.

For various reasons, bottle production faded away in most places, and aluminum and plastic took over. Some manufacturers later returned to putting a limited amount of their product in bottles, but the “Return for Deposit” was missing. Now, it says, “No Deposit No Return.” I can spend my time picking up bottles and returning them to a retailer, but they won’t accept them—and they won’t give me any money. The best I can do is recycle them.

Manufacturing companies stamped their names on their products, so the bottle got back to the right place. According to Paul, God does the same. When we trust Christ as our Savior, God places an identifying mark not on us but in us: the Holy Spirit. He’s a person and a part of the Holy Trinity, along with the Father and the Son.

The good news is that God won’t take back what He’s deposited, such as retailers and manufacturers once did. In the Old Testament, God gave His Spirit intermittently, when He had a special job for someone to do. But after Pentecost and the birth of the Church, God gave the Spirit permanently to His children.

Great advantages come with having God’s Spirit: perfect guidance for all circumstances, perfect wisdom for every decision, strength for any mission God sends us on, perfect peace—regardless of the pain or dire straits we encounter—and life as we could never experience if we didn’t have the Spirit.

Don’t waste the value of what God has deposited in you. Let the power of God’s Spirit lead you to the life God has planned for you.

Prayer: Father, help us to be sensitive to the power of Your Spirit in us. 

Tweetable: Are you valuing the life God has given you?

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