Your Human Value Fell Ten Points!

Publicly owned companies keep a tight lid on information. Their future plans, sudden fiscal changes, mergers, scandals and other matters of public interest invariably affect value of stocks. It is a criminal offense to procure insider information in order to make trading decisions! Using insider information to buy or sell stocks gives an investor unfair advantage over other stakeholders. While this article isn’t about commercial investments, we could use some business concepts as teaching aid to discuss human value.

Big-time investors expend humongous energy and resources researching methods of boosting profits. Certain phrases make their hearts skip beats. Value Fell! Value Rose! To them, these seemingly small words carry great significance. They denote money made, or money lost.

Gain and loss are part and parcel of our everyday realities. So intricately attuned to this fluctuating system, we unconsciously measure our worth amongst inanimate commodities. We evaluate our worth in relation to what we have as opposed to what we are. The more stuff we accumulate, the more we think we are worth. Levels of exposure in academia, wealth or fame define a person’s social status. “Net worth” is a descriptive term for peoples’ wealth, social status, and, by extension, human value!

These perceptions influence our moods, choices, and goals. They dictate who we can associate with, boxing us into specified circles of ‘friends’. It’s anathema to venture outside set confines; those who dare always end up devaluing their social currency.

Oscillating Scales

Value of stocks is driven by strange factors, including words and behaviors of influential people. If an influential figure is caught in a scandal, shares in a business empire s/he represents can plummet abruptly, causing harm to investors. Information has amazing power over investors’ fortunes. This points to the precarious nature of such investments. When you buy stocks in a sports team, for instance, you have no control over officials’ morals. Yet, market forces often target personal values of officials. Your investment is wrapped up in ethics you can’t control.

That elevates values above people, doesn’t it? Are morals more important than individuals? In a business sense, yes! Stability of any investment hangs on the integrity of its managers. Investors seek reliability in whomever they entrust their resources. So do families, nations, etcetera.

That cuts across the board. If you’re looking to enroll for academic studies, you procure info about schools that interest you. If you need someone to fix a drain leak in your house and the recommended plumber has a reputation of sexual indecency, the risk he poses to your family weighs more in your hiring decision than his skills. When public media airs negative stories about a health facility etc., people avoid the affected institution. Why? Because nobody wants to be on the receiving end of a bad experience.

What are we driving at?

In many cultures across the globe, individuals are absolutely nothing in, and of themselves. Folks are simply emblems of shared norms. How ably they represent culture is what matters. But take a long, hard look and you’ll see how dangerous such value systems truly are.

A Different Value System

Things are radically different in God’s Kingdom. Value is in the person! What he has, or doesn’t have, knows, or doesn’t know, can or cannot do, are secondary issues that count for nothing in human worth. A human being has infinite value. God made us thus. Human beings are second only to God in the order of His creative genius. Human beings were created to represent/deputize God on the earthly realm. No bar can rise any higher.

In When Angels Speak, a classic book on messages the late pastor Roland Buck received from angels sent to him, Timothy Holt reports that “…the worth of blood [is] determined by the value of the life that blood flows through. The value of a chicken’s blood would be very little because it flows through the life of a chicken.” He explains the tremendous value of the blood of Jesus as relates to the Person that blood flowed through—the Son of God! Holy Scripture states, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.” Christ embodies the Holy Trinity. As Leviticus 17:11 explains, The life of a creature is in the blood. What then is the value of the blood that was shed for man’s redemption? But if value of a commodity is determined by the price paid for it, what does that say about human worth?

Called To Be, Rather Than To Do

The apostle John makes this much clearer for us. Reporting about Jesus, he writes;

He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. ¹¹ He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. ¹² But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. ¹³ They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God. (John 1:10-13)

A messenger may be sent to you today with news about inheritance you were unaware of. It’s all yours for the taking. But unless you claim it, you can’t have it! You can talk about it, sing about it, write books about it, or sketch maps of it. But the only way to receive inheritance is to claim it officially! Jesus Christ is the human link to your heavenly Benefactor. Only through Jesus can you successfully claim your God-ordained inheritance.

This brings us to a key point in this discussion—qualification! We often bind ourselves to rigid mindsets around capacity. We elect agents from folks who meet specified skillsets. Our hope of success is tied to proficiencies of those who manage or represent our interests. Inversely, the question of human worth has absolutely nothing to do with skills, or the lack of them! Just as inheritance belongs to bona fide heirs without regard to social status, human worth is God-given. It’s a constant value. It doesn’t appreciate or depreciate. You aren’t human one moment and not one the next moment. Every person has 100% human value, even if someone has missing or unfunctional body parts. Anything that isn’t human cannot be measured on those scales.

Finally, humans have intrinsic potential to expand their knowledge and skills. This trait is not shared by other created species. Potential is a huge word in this regard. Exposure plays a crucial role in determining the extent to which potential can be exploited. Unless someone or something is exposed to requisite environments, their potential remains dormant, hidden and underutilized.

A fellow with a disreputable past can be nurtured back to integrity. How? By recognizing his potential, cherishing it, and investing on helping him find a healthy environment where he may grow and thrive. That includes you and I who’ve ever failed in any area of our lives. It all starts when we attach human value to the needy among us, disregarding their past failures or challenges, and discarding all biases we hold against our fellowmen.