The Value of a Human

In 1992, a California woman named Teri Horton bought a large, messy painting at a thrift store for five dollars. She liked it, but it didn’t fit anywhere in her small trailer. Eventually, she tried to sell it at a garage sale, and an art teacher shopping there commented that it looked like a “Jackson Pollock.” Experts examined it, and suddenly that five-dollar thrift-store purchase had the potential value of tens of millions.

What changed? Not the canvas or the paint—the only thing that changed was recognition of its creator. The pawnshop didn’t determine its worth, the price tag, or where it was stored. Its value was determined by the one who made it.

If we want to understand the value of a human being, we have to start with the Creator. In Genesis 1:26–27, Scripture says, “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness…’ So God created humankind in His own image… male and female He created them.” Human beings are the only part of creation described that way. We bear the image of God, or what theologians call Imago Dei. Every man, woman, and child is an image bearer.

That means a person’s value is not assigned by income, education, nationality, race, political affiliation, productivity, or personality. It is not increased by success or decreased by failure. It is not earned, and it cannot be taken away. Value is determined by the Creator.

If a Jackson Pollock is priceless because Pollock painted it, what does it mean that God made you?

I’ll be honest, I haven’t always treated people like image bearers. I’ve made belittling comments and devalued someone because they disagreed with me. Maybe you have too. Think about the driver who cut you off, the coworker who dropped the ball, the family member who pushes your buttons, or the neighbor with the wrong political sign in their yard. How do we subconsciously determine their worth? By how much they agree with us? By how useful they are? By how easy they are to love?

When sin entered the world, it changed us. It didn’t erase God’s image in us, but it distorted how we see it. Romans 3:23 reminds us that all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory. Instead of looking to God to define worth, we started creating our own measuring systems.

WemovedfromImagoDei to what I call “Imago Mei”… my preferences, my standards, my opinions. History shows us where that leads… people deciding who counts and who doesn’t, division, oppression, violence… all rooted in misassigned value. But God did not leave us there. Colossians 1:15 says that Christ “is the visible image of the invisible God.” In John 1:14, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus restored dignity wherever He went, touching the untouchable, honoring the overlooked, calling the forgotten by name. Through Him, God begins restoring His image in us. Romans 8:29 says we are “being conformed” to the image of Jesus. The more time we spend with Him, the more we become like Him, and the more we see humans the way He does.

So what does this mean for us? It means we don’t assign value; we recognize it. Standing firm in our convictions never requires diminishing someone’s humanity. The person hardest for you to love still bears God’s image. Even the person in the mirror, with all your regrets and insecurities, carries sacred worth.

Imagine what would change if we lived like this. Jesus said in John 13:34–35 that the world would know we belong to Him by the way we love one another. Maybe love starts with looking at you, even if I don’t understand, agree with, or naturally connect with you, and remembering that God made you. You bear His image, and that settles your worth.