On Christmas Day I had a conversation with my nieces and nephews. One of the things which came up was a discussion of economic systems. The most surprising thing which came from this conversation was that they felt that they are not worth anything simply based on the fact that none of them own anything of great monetary value. Since they have no expectation of ever owning their own house, they see this as lack of worth.
Measuring human worth by monetary holdings fits within our almost wholly materialistic culture. Since our culture has so rejected God and even the idea that there is a god, for many people there is no expectation of something beyond death. If there is no future beyond the life that we live now, then all that we have is the material world. Life is only a matter of acquiring more material things. It follows from this materialism that I am only worth what I own.
But the point of Christmas is exactly the opposite. We celebrate at this time of the year an event which defies the idea that my value is determined by what I own. Christmas marks the birth of Jesus over 2000 years ago. What does the birth of Christ mean in terms of human worth? Jesus Christ was no ordinary infant, but the Son of God:
who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Phil. 2:6-8).
It was not that the Son of God became a rich human being, born in a palace and waited on by teams of servants. Rather, although he was eternally exalted and had everything, he entered the world as an infant in poverty (2 Cor 8:9), in a nation oppressed by foreign armies. The economic worth of the infant Jesus was almost zero.
Our worth must be measured in terms of the lengths the eternal God has gone to in order to redeem us from sin and death. God gave up what was most valuable to him, his only Son, in order to save humanity. The apostle Paul puts it this way: “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all– how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (Rom. 8:32). (“All things” here does not refer to material things, but every aspect of God’s amazing salvation). Theologian T.F. Torrance speaks of the love of God like this:
“It is in the Cross of Christ that the utterly astonishing nature of the Love that God is has been fully disclosed, for in refusing to spare his own Son whom he delivered up for us all, God has revealed that He loves us more than he loves himself.” (The Christian Doctrine of God)
Our worth cannot be measured by material goods, by economic productivity and by monetary value. What we own does not make us more valuable and those who own nothing are not less valuable. The only genuine measure of human value is found in the celebration of what took place on Christmas Day. The Son of God entered into the world in order to save sinners and reconcile them back to God. This fact demonstrates how much we are worth to God.