Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
In Genesis 1, we have the repeated statement that God found his creative work to be “good.”
This can’t be a statement of moral rightness, since sin wasn’t even a thing yet. It can’t be a commentary on God’s own work, either, as if he was to say, “Wow, look what an awesome job I did on that!” The perfect God only does things the way he wants them done.
Instead, we should understand that when God saw the creation was “good,” that’s meant as a statement of the value he placed on it. He judged it to be important. It was significant.
Later, we learn that God put gemstones in the Garden of Eden (Ezekiel 28:13-16). Gary North, a Christian social theorist, has noted that this means the stones we count as expensive were first valued for their beauty by God. Aesthetics is prior to economics.
Our culture thinks value is in the eye of the beholder. This is partly true, insofar as people hold to a variety of opinions. However, the Scripture is clear that God ultimately, authoritatively determines what has worth.
A giant part of Christian growth in grace is that we are supposed to train our minds to think God’s thoughts after him. This includes the topic of value.
Philippians 1:9 tells us that our love should grow, along with knowledge and discernment. Verse 10 is more specific: We ought to grow in our ability to recognize what is excellent (of genuine value.) Luke 16:15 says that God detests what people esteem. Objective value comes from God, just like the concept of “meaning.”
Theologian R. J. Rushdoony famously recognized that the ultimate source of law in a society is, in fact, the god of that society. Whoever declares what’s right and wrong is our deity. In the same way, whoever gets to say that this thing here has inherent value, and that other thing over there doesn’t, is our god, regardless of our confession of faith.
This has ubiquitous real-world applications. For instance, think about our money. It isn’t tied to anything concrete like gold or silver. Instead, the only value our money has is the value that the federal government says it has. This is known as fiat money. The government says it has value, and so it does.
When we mindlessly agree with this valuation, there are unintended consequences. They take that single inch of rope and run with it a mile.
If you agree that they assign value, what will you do when they decide that you yourself have none? This is no rhetorical question. It comes into play daily in VA hospitals. Hit a certain age, and you may not be worth the resources to keep you alive. Likewise, be unfortunate enough to live in a mother’s womb, and you may find yourself on the short end of another government value judgment (her rights vs. yours).
If we’re all just a conglomeration of random proteins and stardust, there is no inherent significance in that. However, returning to Genesis 1, you are valuable, first, because you were created in the image of God. Secondly, God paid a tremendous price for you, in the blood of Jesus. No one has the right to diminish your basic worth in God’s sight.
Gordan Runyan is the pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Tucumcari. Contact him at: