I hope that we could agree that all human beings should be valued and feel valued.  

But I suspect that if I asked ten people, “how could we make that happen?”, we might have ten different answers.  

One person might say, “If every person would suppress their differences and embrace a national identity people would feel valued.” Another might say, “If we dismantled any prejudicial beliefs people would feel valued.” Another might say, “If we remove all color-blindness that causes many to lessen the rights and freedoms of others, then all Americans would feel valued.”

These ideas are being pursued in the United States and some good changes are occurring and some people are thinking more about valuing each other. But I suggest we still lack the most important ingredient that really the catalyst for this.      

According to the book of Acts chapter 6, a problem arose that would clearly define what the first church be known for after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. A complaint was made by the Grecian Jews against the Hebraic Jews. Their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So, the twelve Apostles gathered key people in the church together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them.”

The Apostles were not saying that table waiting was unimportant. They were saying that good Bible teaching would suffer if they tried to do both.  

Their proposal pleased the whole group, and the reasons are spelled out in the storyline. They chose men full of faith in the Holy Spirit which implies these men knew their shortcomings and were humbly depending on the Holy Spirit to help them work through their flaws and biases for the good of the whole group. The names of the men chosen suggest they chose a broad cross section of Greek Christians with the cultural familiarity and language skills to address the people in need. And they prayed together, which implies they held to a nonnegotiable principle that all people are valuable because God values all people.  

The results were miraculous. The word of God spread and more and more people became followers of Jesus.      

What was the missing ingredient these people had that our society seems to lack? They had a Christ-centered view of human beings. 1) They believed that all people were created in God’s Image and should be equally and infinitely valued regardless of race, creed, financial status, educational level, etc. 2) They believed that problems exist because we are all broken people tainted by sinfulness that effects every relationship, every institution, and every social system. 3) But they also believe that God would help them overcome their color blindness and value and even celebrate the many colors of people he created.  

How do we overcome the obstacles we face to value all human beings equitably? Surrender ourselves to Jesus so that his sacrificial heart becomes our sacrificial heart. For even when our end goal is to value others in a community of love and respect, becoming like Jesus is what makes that possible because he came from heaven to give his life for us that we might give our lives for each other. He took upon himself our sinfulness to make us right with God so that we could be right with each other, valuing and being valued.

— Reflections appears regularly on the religion page. The column features a variety of local writers, coordinated through the Monroe Area Clergy Group. Rick Haworth recently retired as the pastor of Hope Evangelical Free Church in Monroe.