The most quoted Bible verse of all times is John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” This is the Gospel in a nutshell. God loves the world. He loves all people everywhere. No matter what race they are or what they have done, God’s love is the same for all. Love is not some gushy emotion. Love is a person that expresses Himself through sacrifice and the giving of Himself for the benefit of others. John, in his first letter, says that we know love by the fact that Christ died for each one of us. (1 John 3:16) Because He loves, we can love. But we must keep in mind that we are to love as He loves, not as we think love should be.
Jesus revealed to the world what love really is. He explained that if you love just those who love you, you really don’t know anything about God’s love. It is not difficult to love those who love you, even someone who does not know God does that. Jesus said we are to love all, even our enemies. (Luke 6:32-36) In today’s fervent “mob” culture, the emphasis is on conformity to “correctness”, as interpreted by the “tribe” one belongs to. Unconsciously, society has been seduced into thinking that our group is right and all others are wrong. The “they” vs. “us” attitudes have created division and enemies of those we are told to love as we love ourselves.
The acceptance of this toxic tribalism has caused many to cross to the other side of the street when approaching the one we consider to be the “enemy”. We may condemn racism and many other sins, but, at the same time, practice the demonization of those we deem “racist” or “sinner”. Jesus laid down his life for us “while we were yet sinners”. (Romans 5:8) He crossed the street to help us in our most despised state. He was not afraid to get His hands dirty when touching our filth and disease, nor does He condemn us when we fall. Love saves us from our sin and restores us to the purpose for which we were created. Love is not a passive feeling. It is active and engaged in restoring, giving, helping, and believing.
Every life matters, because we are all God’s creation and we are all fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalms 139:13) Every life is precious in God’s sight. Every life needs to be respected, cared for, and loved. From the moment life begins at conception, God is involved in the shaping of its destiny. Over and again we see in the Bible the admonition to respect, honor and love all. With this comes the repeated prohibition to kill, harm, abuse, disrespect, and hate. God is Love and He loves each one purely and redemptively. There is no sin that He will not forgive, nor is there a person too lost that He cannot save. Because every life matters, Jesus has taken away the wall the divides us from one another. He declares us one in Him. A unity that does not consider whether a person is black or white, rich or poor, Jew or Gentile, man or women, or old or young. Titles make no difference to Him because all are precious in His sight.
The importance of every person is determined by the sacrifice Jesus paid on the cross; His life in exchange for each one of ours. The value of my life, your life and every other life is the same as Jesus’ life. This is how much He loves us and why each life matters. We are saved because God loves us, and because we are saved, we love one another. Because we have been accepted by God, we can accept every person just as they are. Because God has not condemned us, but forgiven us, we can forgive and not judge. God took the first step toward us, now we can follow in His footsteps toward others. Every life matters.
Scriptures to meditate on:
John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 13; 1 Peter 2:17; 1 Timothy 2:4; James 2:8; 1 John 3:16