Not Stardust.

 You've heard it in the news lately:

• 8 people killed in the massage parlors
• 10 people killed in the grocery store
• 6 dead after a lethal tornado in Alabama

And that's not even counting the daily deaths from domestic violence, gang shootings, and the pandemic. The world responds with hashtags and slogans to draw attention to such crisis. Yet what do they base it on? 

Doesn't the secular world say that we're merely stardust? A mere chance of coincidence? If so, then why do any lives matter? Aren't humans just another species populating Earth that has actually harmed the ecosystem more than any other living being? What value does a human life have? Why is it "wrong" to kill someone? Our Western society says it's wrong, but not every culture thinks the way we do. A culture that decides it's okay to kill someone based on their system of right/wrong is permitted, right? 

Of course not. We say that it is always wrong to kill. But that is because we're making a firm stance that human lives are different than the rest of the created order. We may mourn when our pet dies, but it is different than mourning when someone we know dies. We base that off of the fact that humans are created in the image of God and thus, our value is based on the fact that we are made in His likeness (Gen 1:26-27) . Killing someone isn't wrong because "God said so." Remember when Cain killed Abel? The 10 Commandments weren't written yet. God had not made it a "law" that killing was a sin. Yet still, it was sin because it was the death of an Image-Bearer. 

For today's passage, let's examine Psalm 8:3-5. 

3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

    the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

4 what is man that you are mindful of him,

    and the son of man that you care for him?

5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings

    and crowned him with glory and honor.

The Psalmist first starts by looking at the rest of Creation. He is amazed at God's work! However, what amazes him the most is why God would even care about man. God has crowned us with glory and honor!

Note that this isn't just about God's people. This is a reflection on mankind (mentioned twice in verse 4 to emphasize the point). This means that every person... is created in the image of God and God cares about him. 

We mourn the death of a person because we recognize that no one is a coincidence. No one is star dust. No one is here by accident. Continue to pray and mourn.