WHY PEOPLE MATTER

In a sermon on Psalm 8, John Piper makes a chilling connection between abortion and racism, noting that the founder of Planned Parenthood was a member of the eugenics movement and saw abortion as a way to "weed out" "inferior races." From there, Piper launches into an inspiring call to treat people with value because they are the handiwork of a great God: "we cannot worship and glorify the majesty of God while treating his supreme creation with contempt."

Amen. The Biblical understanding of God is that we are "made in His image" (Genesis 1), that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made" by Him (Psalm 139), that even when we have flouted Him He runs back to us and embraces us with a fierce and fatherly love (Luke 15). These truths should have significant impact on our self-esteem, on the way we treat our children and our co-workers, on our concern for the poor and wounded, and on our involvement in issues like abortion and racism.

Shame on us as a society when we accept the killing of the unborn, when we let our homophobia or racism rob groups of their dignity, when we allow wives to be battered and children abused, when we tease others who are physically or socially or intellectually less than us. When we are neutral or even complicit in such things, we deeply offend the Maker. We all matter because a great God made us; let's act so.