What Is the Value of One Person?

What is the value of one person? I recently pondered that question on an early morning flight from Whitehorse in Yukon Territories, Canada. My wife and I had just finished ministering at a conference with a committed group of Christian workers and their families who are lovingly serving people in a sparsely populated area of the world. On takeoff the plane banked over the city of Whitehorse. The plane’s window revealed a tight cluster of lights poking into the surrounding darkness. This small city, which is the territorial capital of Yukon, has a population of about 23,000 – representing two-thirds of the entire population of Yukon. When Wikipedia describes Yukon as “sparsely populated” that is probably an overstatement. Imagine the remaining population of 9,000 spread over almost 186,272 square miles. Now that is “elbow room!”

At this conference I was privileged to serve people who are excited to be called by God to declare good news and hope to people in very isolated settings. The conference for these workers was held at a Christian camp located along Marsh Lake, the headwaters for the Yukon River. The camp was situated by a beautiful lakeside ringed by snow-clad mountains whose reflection fills the surface of the lake. It was a rustic camp – meaning outhouses, woodstoves for heat, and running water which involved running to the dining room for hot water hoping it did not cool too much on the hike back to the cabin in below-freezing temperatures. I suspect we were privileged to be in a cabin that had some electric heat because they feared we might burn a cabin down trying to stay warm.

One morning, while leaning my elbows on the table and cupping a mug of steaming coffee in my hands, I commented to one of the attendees that the camp was beautiful and somewhat rustic. He responded, “Welcome to my world!” Conditions at the camp evidently were what he and his family considered normal in their village of 250 people. In our conversation I discovered they faced challenging living conditions that included severe weather (i.e. lows as extreme as -50 degrees Fahrenheit), isolation (i.e. unable to see family and old friends for many months and even years at a time), financial challenges (i.e. declining exchange rates and support), the absence of creature comforts we take for granted (i.e. a trip to the mall or favorite fast food establishment), and working in communities that daily battle many social problems that would tax even the most experienced social worker, counselor, and mental health professional. Add to all of this the real spiritual war that goes on all over the world (Ephesians 6:10-17) and was very apparent in their community. I would be in this “environment” – which really was not bad at all – for a few days. What he encountered went on for years. Beginning to understand just a bit of the challenges he faced, I quizzed him as to why he was willing to face all of this. Paraphrasing his short answer, “I love God who called me here, and I love the people God has called me to love and serve.” He was focused not upon his circumstances. He was focused upon his calling.

Later I heard one Christian worker comment that recently a church that had supported him in his mission for a number of years decided that it was not worth supporting him and his family. This church concluded it was not cost effective to support them because there “just were not a lot of people in their area to reach.” I bristled a bit in my soul. How could they put so little value on a person who needed to have someone minister to their physical needs and eternal soul?

What would that church have thought of God and his servant, Philip, in Acts 8? He was ministering in a region where multitudes were responding to his ministry as their physical and spiritual needs were being met (8:4-8). God reflecting his love for the whole world (see John 3:16) then sovereignly moved Philip to the wilderness to minister to one man (Acts 8:26-40). If the church that stopped supporting this Christian worker in Yukon had lived in the days of the early church, would they have said God’s plan and Philip’s ministry in the wilderness was not cost effective? Perhaps, but they would have been wrong!

As the plane leveled off at 32,000 feet over the ice fields of Yukon, I prayed. I thanked God for the Christian workers I had met who saw people’s value the way God does. I thanked God that He valued people so much that he sent His Son, Jesus Christ, on a mission to planet earth to address their physical and spiritual needs. I thanked God that Jesus came and met my needs. The conditions Jesus faced were tough. The cost to Jesus was exorbitant – he died for people. Why did he do this? Because Jesus loved to do the Father’s will and loved the people to whom he was called to minister. He valued people. I then prayed that I will have that same perspective. I prayed that those who claim they are Christians would also see the value of people.

God so loved the world that He values people individually.