Value Life

By Noah Weldemichael

Value Life is the spiritual and inspirational biography of a young Christian. It speaks about life and its challenges and how we should deal with our circumstances. It raises the issue of suicide and its causes. It also tries to give answers to different biblical and social topics. On the issue of race, abortion, and other relevant things, the main message is that in any difficult circumstances, you can choose what to think, facing challenges and overcoming them. Life is far superior to anything in this universe. Let us value it and preserve its deserved dignity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jul 29, 2019
• ISBN: 9781973664819

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Copyright © 2019 Noah Weldemichael.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

Scripture quotations marked AMP are taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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ISBN: 978-1-9736-6480-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-6479-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-6481-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019907185

WestBow Press rev. date: 07/18/2019

CONTENTS

Introduction

Value Life

Chapter 1 At Creation

Chapter 2 How Much Is Your Life Worth?

Chapter 3 Why God Sent His Son

Chapter 4 When Does Life Begin?

Chapter 5 The Heavenly and the Earthly Kings

Chapter 6 Stress/Depression

Chapter 7 Your Skin Color

Chapter 8 What God Expects

Chapter 9 Sin

INTRODUCTION

Every single person on our planet has his or her own life experience. You have your own experience, perception, and understanding of life. I have my own life experience and perception. Our circumstances and our mind-sets greatly influence our view of life. In our life journeys, there are many circumstances, situations, temptations, difficulties, and challenges that force us to take action or shape our perceptions.

The life journey that I have had until this moment shaped my perception about life. I confess at this time, if it were not for the Lord and his word, I don’t think I would have made it this far. The difficult life that I had experienced led me to the valley of hopelessness. However, the Bible is the best counselor. It speaks to every situation that I was in. Because of what I went through, the best lesson I got was not how to deal with my circumstances or situations but how to deal with my mind and the thoughts that arose due to my difficulties. Even now, my problems are not over. The toughest ones lie ahead, but under no circumstances will I ever be stressed or depressed. No matter how big my problems are, I can’t be stressed or depressed because I know how to deal with my mind. I know what to think and what to meditate about. I know what to entertain and what to feed my mind.

For a long time, I never thought about writing a book. But I began fantasizing with myself, saying that if the pastor gave me a chance, I would preach about a value life. This is because God values our lives and we value life. But we have to have full knowledge to value our lives and the lives of others with great understanding.

So here is part of my life story and some important lessons I have learned from the Holy Bible and the Holy Spirit. I hope you will enjoy reading this book, get some valuable knowledge, and see that you can be victorious on your earthly journey. This is from my heart to yours, and I want to leave a good impression about life so that you may enjoy life in the worst of times and during life’s most difficult circumstances. You just need to tune your mind to the right frequency.

VALUE LIFE

So many things have been said about life. It’s being defined and interpreted differently in many languages. So many songs, proverbs, and poems have been produced for life. We all have different perceptions and understanding about life. Some of us enjoy it, others live for the sake of living, while others are desperate and want to depart from this life. What is the cause of all this difference? The life that is within each of us is just one. The difference is our perception and our way of living. There is great joy and celebration for the birth of a baby, for a new life that has just arrived. There is also great grief and sorrow when a loved one dies for various reasons.

This shows how precious life is and the value that we give to it. Life is life. No words or definitions can fully describe it. So now, please let us value our own lives first, before we value the lives of others. And let us value the lives of others as we value our own lives. Now value your life before you value your flesh. Value life and care for your health before you care for your beauty.

Now let us ask ourselves: What life is? Where is life? When does life begin? What are our expectations in life? How do we want to live? Are we living, or are we just alive on this earth? Are we satisfied with our lives? Is life worth living?

We are not able to provide final and binding answers to all these questions, but we can reach a general understanding because life is awesome, great, and beyond our understanding. The reason for all this is that life originates from the awesome God.

The way God views life is different from the way we view life. Differences in our income greatly influence our perception of life. But once you satisfy your needs, you want to satisfy your wants. Once you start to satisfy your wants, you live an unfulfilling life. Some are rich, others have a moderate income, and the majority are poor. The rich are glad about the secure financial incomes they have. They feel pity for the poor, and at the same time, they wonder how the poor survive with the little they have yet keep smiles on their faces and joy in their hearts. Also, their wish is to have complete freedom, as the poor enjoy. No thief will come to the poor, so they get sound and uninterrupted sleep. They don’t need to hire security, because their poverty is their security. Middle-income people are trapped in the middle; they feel pity for the poor, and they want to reach the level of the rich. The poor have less to worry about; they are mainly concerned with filling their bellies. However, they are jealous of the wealth of the wealthy, and they dream to one day become rich. They always wish and dream to live like the wealthy person. They feel pity for themselves for being unfortunate and poor. There is no way that you should feel pity for yourself as long as you are happy and live among the people you love and who love you. The poor have little understanding of the benefits they have. They have a few things to do to ensure their survival, and they are free from the stressful and depressing lifestyle of the wealthy.

Apart from these, there is a group of people who live contented lives who put limitations on their wants and desires. They are considerate and care for others. They are full of satisfaction.

The value of life for many of us is based on the amount of money we have, the jobs we work, or our standards of living. But this is wrong; if a man, for example, is rich, this doesn’t mean he is enjoying life, even if he is dressed well, has a gold ring, the finest car, a nice house, or anything that has to do with riches. We do not know the problems and miseries he has or what is going on in his mind or his heart. Only that particular person knows about himself. The same is true with poor people, who may be living the happiest lives on the planet. Who knows?

So our perception of life should not be influenced by financial means.

As for me, I can’t fully describe or define what life is because the things I mentioned above are all supplementary. These are the things that help us to survive, but they do not constitute life itself. Our life consists of all our thinking, our actions, our work, our words, our breatha, and all the interactions we make on this planet.

Also, Where is life? is not an easy question with a definite answer. Is it in our brains? Is it in our lungs? Is it in our hearts? Is it in our kidneys? Or is it in our blood?

If one or two of the organs mentioned above fail, there is a great possibility that our life in this world will cease.

We know that we have a spirit, soul, and flesh, but we do not know the exact location of our spirit in our flesh. I do agree with the explanation of theologians that says a human being consists spirit, soul and a body. This spirit is what we call life. Therefore, our spirit is not hidden in some part of our body. For sure, it remains in our body until the hour of departure arrives, when our spirit separates from our flesh. This means when we die, the spirit leaves the body and functions without our body. The difference between our flesh and our spirit becomes clear. Therefore, our life is our spirit, not our body. Let us value our life.

Previously, I raised a complicated question: Are you living, or you are just alive on this earth? Let me explain my understanding of these two concepts. Anyone that you see doing anything on the street, at school, at home, in church, or anywhere is alive. However, only those who are leading their lives according to their wishes, plans, and desires are living. To be precise, the people who are living are those who have a home and access to basic needs (and some wants) and who can plan and perform as they desire (e.g., professionals, rich individuals). Others who are homeless and hopeless, people who do not see any future, are alive, but they are not living (e.g., desperate and homeless individuals). The third group is those who study and work hard to lead stable lives and who do their best to bring their wishes to reality. Those types of people are alive and looking forward to start living (e.g., students and others who fight to make their living standard better). I find myself and the many other people in the third group. Here I am, speaking about our individual lives, but there are exceptions. Therefore, we should not lose hope because we can change our status of merely being alive to one of living. The solution is at hand. That is when to value our lives above everything, and anything becomes critical.

This book will address different topics and a variety of issues. It will reduce the stress that comes from suicidal and negative thoughts that torment our lives. It also answers important biblical questions.

CHAPTER 1

AT CREATION

At creation, three important things happened. These were the three ingredients for the creation of man.

1. God created the heaven and the earth. To create means to bring something out of nothing. So God brought the earth into being out of nothing, by his word. He created the earth full of dust, not tarmac. It is obvious the dust comes with the earth.

2. God used the dust as an ingredient to form man in his image. So here, God, instead of creating or uttering a word to bring about man, simply took dust to form man. Now, God created man, in fact, God designed him to have a definite structure and form. So man was designed in the first place. It was the earth (dust) that was created because the earth (dust) comes to being out of nothing by the word, which comes from the mouth of God. And man was formed by the hand of God from the dust of the earth. Yet it is the body that was being designed, not the life.

So God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created him: male and female he created them.

—Genesis 1:27 (NKJV)

3. When God finished designing Adam, the most important thing happened. God breathed into Adam (gave his spirit to Adam). Then Adam became a living being. He started to live.

Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath or spirit of life, and man became a living being.

—Genesis 2:7 (AMP)

The Bible clearly tells us how God made man. He formed him out of what he had created, the dust. Now, it was only the body He was forming, not the life because Adam started living only when he received the breath from God. Therefore, God designed us from the dust of the earth and breathed into us his spirit to give us life. Scientists nowadays say that life is designed, but it’s our bodies, not our lives, that have been designed. As we read in Genesis, God formed man from the ground. After that, he gave his spirit, or He breath, to him. That is when man started living, only after he received the spirit, or the breath, of God.

About our flesh, we have no doubt because all our interactions with the outer world are through our flesh. We use our five senses, and we can describe what we feel and what is happening to us or around us. About our spirits, we may not be able to describe them easily, but they form the innermost source of our existence. If the spirit is not in us, surely we are dead. When we die, only our spirit will live because it comes from eternal God, but our flesh will decompose in the soil as it is taken from the soil.

For as the body without the spirit is dead.

—James 2:26 (NKJV)

As long as my breath is in me, And the breath of God in my nostrils.

—Job 27:3 (NKJV)

Therefore, it is the spirit that gives us life, and life is the combination of the spirit, soul, and flesh. No matter what happens to our flesh, whether good or bad, we feel it deep in our hearts and our minds, which are our souls and spirits. If it is good (e.g., achievement, reward, or success), we express it in our emotions, and we feel the joy in our hearts. If it is bad, we also feel the pain and frustration that arise as a consequence. All three—our spirit, soul, and flesh—partake in any event