The Value of Life

The Value of Life

In our days people are striving to secure man’s rights for the duration of his earthly life. The awareness of the value of life and the value of the individual has been awakened. The battle is about the right of life to develop freely.

The value of life is also beginning to impress itself on the consciousness of believers. Just as people speak about human rights, believers speak about spiritual rights and spiritual values.

We live only once on this earth. A child of God is born for opportunities whose values are only revealed by means of the services they render to individuals, and through them to the church. The value of a life is not decided by how much a person receives, but by how much he gives. It is in God’s plan that every soul should lay down his life, his only life, as a valuable contribution for the development of the church. This is a life’s right. Life demands its right so it can grow properly, the Holy Spirit filling a soul with the desire to serve and to give.

No one has managed to give so much value to an individual as Jesus did. He is still each person’s helper and comforter. In society the individual life has become despised; they lump it together on the scales and weigh them as “the masses,” in contrast to those who have ruled them. This has also been the case in the spiritual realm. Those who have acted as the most authoritative representatives of Jesus’ doctrine have in their life practiced the opposite of this doctrine. Instead of souls that were born free, fully aware of their place and ministry in the church, we find a great number of crippled souls who are ignorant of their life’s value and their life’s possibilities and rights. God’s children have for such a long time been only opportunities for others who have stolen their rights, that they have received the mark of a slave in their spirit and have become slaves of men.

Great treasures have been buried by setting aside abilities and strengths that God has given for the purpose of serving in the church. And whom has He not appointed to serve? Churches and assemblies have for a long time had a one-man ministry which, with an iron fist, has oppressed and excluded many people who should have been along in serving. The church is the meadow where everyone has the right to satisfy his desire to serve according to the grace God gives with regard to abilities and strength. Many souls, many bright and outstanding people have been pushed off their pastures; many lights that have attempted to shine are mercilessly put under a basket and delivered to despondency and dejection. Neglect has been the soul’s nourishment, and all his pastures have fallen prey to professional speakers. Each individual’s abundant opportunities that he may have, have been obliterated, and as a spiritual cripple and dejected soul, he is shown his place among the “masses.” Oh, what traffic there is in human souls for the sake of honor, money, influence, and power! Many people have become rich and distinguished in the world on the ruins of souls. They have reaped a paltry earthly gain by burying great, spiritual treasures—souls of which one is worth more than the entire world.

By way of example, I met a brother who was already coming up in years. I asked him: “Well, where do you go to meetings?” “Oh, I usually visit—(he mentions the name of the meeting hall), and then I go and listen in the—.” “But tell me, what are you doing; haven’t you received the gift of teaching in the church?” “Yes, I do hope that God will one day open a door for me.” Poor brother, who has been consigned to “usually visiting,” and “hearing,” while his abundant abilities and strengths were fading away through inactivity. There was no room for him; he was waiting for God to give him an opportunity, but those who should have been shepherds did not give it to him. He sighed when he said these things. He was a living, buried servant! And who is it who buries the many rising talents that should be shepherds, teachers, evangelists, prophets, helps, etc.? Thus we find many living, buried souls in the midst of the assemblies—in the State Church and in the Free Assemblies. Under this spiritual pressure, they are gripped by indolence, forming the large masses of people who go to meetings out of habit. Oh, the burial places that most of these so-called Christian churches are! Already early in their Christian life, brothers will often receive such a blow that they lose the ability and the strength to fight for their spiritual and ministering existence. All brothers have the right of life to develop fully in the church. Every Israelite received his allotted inheritance in the land of Canaan. Likewise everyone in the church must receive his lot of inheritance. But the fact is that most lots of inheritance have been stolen by those who have added house to house until only they are left, dwelling alone in the midst of the land. Many brothers who have been plundered have even let their talents go! And those who exhort them to put their talent out to earn interest are the first ones to hinder them. Do not bury your talent, and don’t let others do it even if they attempt it. Take up your fight for your spiritual existence, for your pastures. Break the yoke of bondage! You have only one life. Let no one hinder you in being a blessing according to your gifts for serving. You shall bear fruit in this life; in this life you shall gather treasures for eternity. Those who look for respect for themselves in this life are the very ones who hinder you from gathering treasures for eternity—even on your lot of inheritance. It is you who have inherited it. Take care that you don’t just receive it as a gratuity from those who want to rule.

These treasures—souls that have been bought with Jesus’ blood—are oppressed by those who speak about the same blood and its liberating power. However, a prudent shepherd digs up these treasures; he lets them go on the right pastures according to their gifts; he seizes every chance to give opportunities to others. He makes something out of his life by helping others to make something out of their life. No one becomes small by making others great, and even if you make it possible for others to advance because you step aside, then your own poverty will create riches for others. But if you through your poverty can create riches for others, then they will see your poverty as an example in the midst of their riches. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.” 2 Cor. 8:9.