Core Value: Individual Worth
Individual Worth: because honoring persons made in the image of God recognizes their unique story and history.
SUMMARY
Being created in the image of God is a special, unique status that all humans have, and that sets mankind apart from all other creatures. Each one of us reflects our Creator’s character and intended purpose.
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. — Jeremiah 29:11
Scriptural Foundation
Genesis 1:26-27—Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Genesis 5:1-2—This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created.
Genesis 9:6—“Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.
1 Corinthians 11:7—For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man.
James 3:9 (NASB)—With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God;
Why this is important:
Our understanding of this value will shape how we view each other and how we view and minister to the women and children we serve.
Being created in the image of God is the focus of Satan’s contempt and hatred for mankind: Satan’s corruption of mankind through Adam and Eve brought the fall and dominion over God’s creation was taken from mankind and given to Satan.
The promotion of abortion is Satan’s most potent attack on God’s image bearers and fully demonstrates the Devil’s hatred of mankind and desire to destroy life from conception onward.
The secular world measures individual worth based on one’s contribution to society and relationships within the community. A biblical worldview sees one’s individual worth and dignity based on their status as a human being created in the image of God. (NOTE: Marxism, the competing worldview in our culture today, devalues the individual in favor of the collective, thus further denigrating the intrinsic value of human beings. Marxism grew out of naturalism, which is inherently atheistic and sees creation as a series of evolutionary steps that happened by chance. This has become the prevailing belief system in Western Civilization. Individuals have no intrinsic value because there is no God and humans are simply a step in an ongoing evolutionary process.)
Satan’s greatest lie is to convince a human being he or she has no value, no individual worth. The loss of a sense of personal value is often at the root of addiction, promiscuity, self-harm, and suicide.
Application to Ruth Harbor
Each woman whom God sends to us is a valued individual with a unique story. Both the mother and the child are created in the image of God and hold a special place in all of His creation. Helping women understand and fully appreciate this fact about themselves and their child is one of the greatest challenges and contribution we can make to her transformation.
As a Christian ministry committed to gospel transformation, we can provide women the assurance of self-worth and individual value by meeting three God-given needs:
The need for love: receiving an unchanging, unconditional commitment from another person that you matter in God’s eyes...that God sees you.
The need for significance: knowing the meaning and purpose for your life as a creation of God and as someone for whom He died that you might have eternal life.
The need for security: being grounded with an unshakable sense of belonging and acceptance though the grace of God.
