Black Lives Matter is a global organization that was founded in 2013 to bring awareness to real and presumed acts of white supremacy. Its stated objective is to build power in black communities and work to promote laws and practices to ensure the lives of Black and White are treated equally.
Some find the movement a bit prickly due to its socialistic and militant leanings, yet at its core is a longing we all share: to matter. From earliest childhood we find ourselves searching for an affirmation of value: “Look at me” we cry. “See how high I can jump!” Yet this can be a slippery slope, because when human worth is processed by the metrics of a transient culture, the value of Black lives—or any lives—is only as secure as the next election cycle, military coup, or rising power of influence.
During the dark days of the African slave trade, White lives mattered more than Black. Yet Black lives who profited White lives by selling their fellow Africans into slavery did matter and were rewarded. Under the rule of Hitler, the master race of Aryan lives mattered, yet other White lives—Jews, homosexuals, the disabled—didn’t because their lives were of no benefit to the state.
Before we find ourselves feeling too removed from this repulsive kind of behavior, we need to be reminded that the church has one of the worst records for defending the value of every human life. The killing of nearly a million in the Crusades was fueled by the church’s contempt for the lives of Arabs, Turks, Muslims, and Jews: they didn’t matter. The 14th-century church of Europe executed thousands in its inquisition of Jews, Muslims, and the upstart Lutherans: they didn’t matter.
King Henry VIII, after making himself supreme head of the Protestant Church in England in 1534, killed Catholics by the thousands: they didn’t matter. When his daughter took the throne 20 years later, she earned the title of Bloody Mary by turning the tables and burning hundreds of Protestants at the stake: they didn’t matter. It wasn't long before Elizabeth 1 became queen, and now it was the Protestant’s turn to matter: resisting Catholics were tortured and burned. Meanwhile, the church in France championed the killing of tens of thousands who followed the teachings of the “heretic,” John Calvin. It was the power and influence of the church that determined which lives mattered, and which didn’t.
Many years ago when I was visiting Paris, I found myself standing in front of the Mona Lisa at the Louvre Museum. As a non-art-appreciating youth, I have to admit I wasn’t all that impressed and was ready for a sandwich. But my uninformed opinion didn’t matter one bit: the Mona Lisa was and continues to be the most valued painting in the world. What did they see that I didn’t?
While my appreciation for art hasn’t improved much over the years, one thing is now clear: it’s all about the artist. His name alone—Leonardo da Vinci—is what gives the painting its value. His handiwork, skill, creativity, and style are visible on the canvas. It’s a masterpiece.
The source of human value has nothing to do with governments, creeds, or influential powers. It’s all about the artist: God. He alone is the creator, and every human life reflects His handiwork, skill, creativity, and style. While governments cannot create that kind of value, they can protect it—and protect it they should.
So does every life matter? If value is determined by current political ideologies, movements, or dominating cultural influences, the answer is sometimes yes, and sometimes no. But if it is rooted in bearing the imprint of our wonderful creator God, then the answer is always yes.
As followers of Jesus, we should be leading the way in promoting the value of all human life. And while it's easy for our thinking to immediately gravitate to the unborn, abused, and under-resourced, there’s a good chance our bigger struggle is with those who practice and promote a shift from moral and cultural values: they don’t matter.
While there is no question we should resist destructive ideologies in the marketplace of ideas—and fight like junkyard dogs to promote God-honoring values—hate is never an option. Slander is never an option. Devaluing is never an option. God has called His followers to love the very ones who proudly promote wrong as right, and right as wrong. If we fail at this, we might find ourselves standing on the wrong side of history...and of God.
Our mantra as Christians must always be that every life matters: Black, White, Brown, Yellow, Red, and the blending of every color and ethnicity. But that value reaches far beyond color to include LBGTQ lives, WOKE lives, and the lives of those who venture beyond moral and ethical boundaries. Navigating this rutted terrain will always be challenging and perplexing, yet the redeeming and restoring of broken lives has always been the story of God and the one He calls us to join.
So let’s raise the flag of human value as we stand in the gap as lovers of God and lovers of those He created and loves. All of them.