It was Aristotle who said, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” While mathematicians might disagree with this sentiment, in most other areas this statement rings true. This is particularly true of human beings, namely you and me, dear readers. You and I are infinitely more than the sum of our individual parts. We are more than just a collection of bones and blood, of a brain and a heart and a stomach.

We are created in the image of a triune God. We are triune beings. We are body, mind and spirit. We are more than the sum of our parts. Exponentially more.

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness,’ . . . So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:26-27)

So why do I often feel worthless when my Heavenly Father says I am priceless? Could it be because I listen to what the world says about me instead of what my Creator says about me? In Psalms I read this –

“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: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.” (Psalm 8:4-8)

“For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (Psalm 139:13-14)

It is clear that you and I, dear readers, have been created with care in God’s eternal, triune image. Each one of us bear the imprint of the divine nature upon us, making each one of us unique, each one of us of immeasurable value in our Heavenly Father’s eyes. Instinctively we know this. We know whose we are – BUT – the deceit of the devil and the lies of our culture convince us otherwise. We know that –

“He (God) has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

You and I are “fearfully and wonderfully made” with “eternity in our hearts” and yet we don’t always remember in our day to day experiences that we are indeed so much more than the sum of our parts. And in this culture it’s not surprising given that we are constantly bombarded with labels meant to define and divide us from each other and even from ourselves. We become so fragmented with all the different labels put on us – we lose our identity, even as we are constantly being told what that identity is.

The culture wants to define us by things such as sex, age, income, skin color, religious beliefs, nationality, occupation, education – the list seems endless. But these things don’t define us or determine who we are or what we are worth. Only our Creator can do that. And He already has done this. Our price? The life of His only Son, Jesus. That’s the price He paid to redeem you and me for His own and give us eternal life with Him .

God doesn’t look at me or at you through the lens of all our manmade divisions such as sex or religious denomination or nationality or skin color. This is made clear with these words from Galatians and Colossians –

“You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:26-28)

“Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” (Colossians 3:11)

God is the author of diversity in all He has created, but we turn the beauty of that diversity into divisions that separate us from each other and from our Creator. Seems as though the people in Paul’s day did the same thing. Perhaps that’s what prompted Paul to write the above words to the Galatians and the Colossians. Paul was pointing out our unity in Christ, who transcends all the things we use to build walls between us. He said neither circumcision nor uncircumcision mattered nor whether one was Jew or Greek, which was a big racial divide in that day.

Today we still label ourselves and others with many different labels, allowing those labels to define us, when in reality our true identity is found in knowing that we are created in God’s image and are made to reflect His glory and His goodness. But somehow that truth gets buried beneath the lies of the world. We then spend our days trying to figure out who we are and where we fit in. The world may not place much value on us or on life in general. We are deemed expendable. BUT – God says otherwise.

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:29-31)

“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.” (Matthew 18:12-14)

Each one of us matters to God. You are not invisible. I am not invisible. God knows you and me completely, even down to the number of hairs on our heads! We are His children – that is our true identity. We are not defined by our ethnicity, fame, fortune, accomplishments (or lack of them), our earthly status, church denomination, occupation, skin color or any physical conditions or handicaps we might have. These are not the things God sees when He looks at you and me. Instead, I read this in Samuel –

“But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’ ” (1 Samuel 16:7)

Sometimes it is easier to let the world define me, dismiss me, devalue me (or others) than to believe the truth that I matter so much to my Creator that He left His home in glory and came here to give His life for me. You and I are more. We are more than the sum of our parts. We are more than the sum of all our labels. You and I are priceless. We are of infinite value in the eyes of our infinite Creator. That’s why He paid the ultimate price for each one of us.

“For God so loved the world (you and me) that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

No more labels. No more divisions.

“After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:9-10)

Something to look forward to . . .

sincerely, Grace Day