The Lodestar

How much is a human body worth? The answer depends on several factors. According to one source, the chemicals in the human body are worth around 1,300 rupees. Kidney donors demand more than three lakhs for one kidney. However, that is a one-time sale, as a living person can donate only one of their two kidneys. Donating blood may fetch more than five hundred rupees per bottle.

However, a human being's worth in society depends on a range of factors, including education, income, profession, influence, and others. Therefore, individuals who possess these social assets are valued more highly than others. Society neglects the poor, while the wealthy command high respect; the powerless are sidelined, and the powerful are in charge.

However, the Lord has a different perspective on all this. For him, everything that he created is of immense worth. We may scare the sparrows away when they are a nuisance or even shoot them. A world with fewer sparrows does not make an enormous difference for many of us.

But the Lord cares for even the sparrows, though they are a ridiculously cheap commodity in the market: five for two pennies, the Lord cares about them. "Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God" (Luke 12:6).

So, how much are you and I worth to God? Just the price of the chemicals in our body, or the vital organs and body fluids?

For the Lord, we are worth more than society's estimate of us, even more than what we think of ourselves. The Lord uses a different yardstick that ignores our social status, abilities, wealth, self-esteem, or power, but recognises that we are his creation for a purpose and His children through Jesus Christ.

He who cares for the insignificant sparrows cares for us, for whom Christ died on the cross.

Finally, how much am I worth? I am worth the quantum of Christ's love on the cross if we could quantify that love. Christ did not die for the sparrows, but he did it for you and me.

The next time you are tempted to measure your value by your income, your influence, or your accomplishments, stop. Close your eyes and remember the sparrows. Then, remember the cross. Challenge yourself to dismiss society's price tag and live today under the unquantifiable value God has placed on your life.