Wow! Seems like each year goes faster than the previous one. Can’t believe we are already in February. I so appreciate all my friends who like cold weather and hope they can appreciate the fact I love warmer weather. I am so looking forward to it.
I’m ready to get back on the walking trail and  just can’t handle it when the wind is blowing, it’s raining or it’s below 48. I’ll admit I’m a wimp in that regard.
So much craziness going on in our world. Makes you want to become a hermit. It’s bad enough that so many people are dying from the flu, but we’ve got people killing other people all the time in our communities. Many times for no reason or for reasons that make no sense whatsoever. Human life has been devalued.
We have not yet reached the point that we are throwing humans into a crematorium like the Nazis thank God. But seems we are slipping closer toward it every day. Parents are killing their children by starving them or feeding them drugs or not caring for them at all.
People watch as other humans are gunned down, beat up and even raped and do nothing. The Bible tells us things like this will happen in the last days: brother against brother; sons and daughters against their parents. It’s all around us and is the result of generations of humans denying and forgetting God.
It almost seems as if our prosperity and desire for more, is causing us to strive for an ideal human population where the old, sick, disable and unwanted are often discarded like the trash. This is in many professions as well including the medical field.
I was recently told that in one workplace, the younger generation thinks anyone 40 or over should be dead and that they not only say that, they act like that toward the older person. The situation caused some to retire earlier than anticipated. The employer does nothing about it and therefore gives the appearance of being in support of the notion.
I am many years past 40 and am still a viable and productive person with many good years ahead of me. I do not intend to die until the good Lord calls me home at the time He has appointed for me. We compartmentalize atrocities and say they are, just as Nazi Germany did, that it is for the good of science; for the advancement of knowledge; for the benefit of society or for the good of national interest. And we take it as truth, many times without any questioning.
Thinking about the number of unborn babies which have been aborted is astounding. I can’t even fathom it, but it’s just another peg in the devaluation of human life. God knows us before we are born and indicates to me life begins at conception. Instead of embracing a child with a birth defect society would rather kill it before it is born.
Suicide rates are up and many people do not have any plans for the future and don’t see any reason for their existence. Young people watch society as we kill our unborn and elderly. Then they hear reports about gunfire being exchanged over a pair of tennis shoes or over a girl or boyfriend. Some grow up in homes where their parents waste their lives on alcohol and drugs and barely provide them with a roof over their heads.
Add in the fact of violent video games where characters are killed and then come back to life and TV shows where violence is the norm and you can see how and why human life is devalued today. Plus many schools teach idealism and other notions that suggest that humans are no more than just an afterthought or cosmic accident.
As humans we are more than just atoms. Humans were created in the image of God and humans, especially the younger ones, need this reinforced in their minds. Life itself is a gift from God. You see atheism not only denies the possibility of a relationship with God, but also denies the relationship between people and therefore is an affront to humans.
Life is short and gone before we know it. We are in need of revival across our land so we can return to God, the giver of life. It’s a gift that is priceless. When we value life, we do not want to take it from someone else. Everyone, no matter their status in life is valuable and God loves them all. No one is more valuable than another person.
Along with human life being devalued, values like integrity, virtue, honesty and respect also go by the wayside.
God created life to be valuable. If you ignore God and ignore His wisdom, the value of life drops. The Romans used to line roads with people on crosses and fed them to lions and watched them kill each other as sport. Christianity stopped this behavior by teaching the value of life.
If we value life, we should stand for the value of life in our church, our politics, our entertainment, our business, and our family. We should be the light of the world and the salt of the earth as God tells us. We should impact the world by changing lives.
A move back to valuing life has to begin at home and then reinforced in our churches and our schools. If we want to change our culture, it has to start with each of us. What are you willing to do?©2018

VICTORIA SIMMONS is an author, columnist, motivational speaker, minister and publisher of The Georgia Post/Byron Buzz. Contact her at: vsimmons54@gmail.com