Cud #23

New International Version

“When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet.” - Psalm 8:3-6

This question of man’s worth has been posed for countless centuries and it only seems to be picking up speed recently in circles of theological debate. I can readily see the argument for seeing humans as piles of worthless dung. Just as this Psalmist notes, compared to the vastness of the universe and the understandable busyness of God to care for each component of creation, man has to rate somewhere between the lint in my navel and the scab on my elbow.

“What is man that you (God) are mindful of him?” Where do we fit in the universal pecking order? What could we possibly possess that makes us worthwhile? Could it honestly be true that God’s “mind is full” of me? Compared to the infinite galaxies sprawling beyond the tracing of our understanding, how could we be of any value whatsoever in the grand scheme of things? All these comparisons and queries are valid and reasonable. It does seem quite absurd that we should hold our head high as if we mattered in the light of eternity. “Who do we think we are anyhow?” Something feels humanly right about coming to the conclusion that I am no one special and worth less than nothing. It’s almost as if we like the masochistic approach to finding the meaning of our lives. It’s easier than wrestling with the possibility that we have inherent worth bestowed upon us by our Creator. It’s simpler to live as if we have nothing to offer. That abdicates our responsibility to leverage our worth conscientiously and passionately.

David answers the age old question immediately as if to diffuse all doubts and to dispel all myths. Human beings, against all reasonable doubt, have been crowned with a glory that exalts them to the highest seat of honor in all of creation. What is this glory that messes up all mathematical equations and the seamless arguments of the apologist? What is this honor that adorns humanity like the royal robe of a king? Has King David lost his marbles asserting such humanistic heresy? Is this just the wishful thinking of a man who can’t stomach the reality that he is but a dust mite and his value that of rabid gnat? Or does this King understand the merit of the human soul, the “weight of glory” as C.S. Lewis called it. Like it or not, we are immortal beings created to live forever. We are not disposable and we cannot be extinguished from existence. Our spirits are everlasting and their value is directly adjoined to the value of God. To demoralize ourselves would be to spit upon the image of God, for we are bearing that mark. To trivialize our place in this world would be to downplay and belittle the very Creator who shaped us in his likeness.

Everything is under our feet, that is to say we are the kings and queens of creation second in command only to His Majesty. Giving ourselves credit or value doesn’t in any way contradict or challenge God’s measureless and boundless significance, in fact, it argues for it. There is no greater witness to the worth of God than the living likeness of a human being. When we reason, we do so with an inherited mind. When we feel, we do so with an endowed emotion. When we act, we do so with bestowed breath. Our glory is but a shadow of his presence. Our honor is simply a shaft of his resplendence. To live in self-denial, self-abasement, and self-mutilation, is to mar and scar the image meant to point people to the substance.

I want to promote the glory of the human heart. I want to celebrate the image of God born out in the presence of a person fully alive. I want to validate our worth in a Christian world hung up on self-deprecation and self-depreciation. There is a bigger message than original sin, it’s original glory. It preceded the fall and it will not be snuffed out by the doctrine of human depravity. We are sinners, yes, but we are first image-bearers. Let us not forget where we came from in our effort to make sense of where we are. We have meaning. We matter. We are the crown of creation bearing the glorious image of our beautiful Creator. Soiled though it is, sullied with the mud flung by well meaning Christians, our glory latently pulsates below waiting to be unveiled. This glory makes life worth living.

Comments

calebroberts said…
certainly, you were bestowed a beautiful mind.
David answers the age old question immediately as if to diffuse all doubts and to dispel all myths. Human beings, against all reasonable doubt, have been crowned with a glory that exalts them to the highest seat of honor in all of creation. black cotton shalwar kameez design , black velvet churidar designs ,

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