Two little boys came upon a rain-swollen river.  They saw a rabbit stranded on a tree limb being pummeled by the rushing waters.  One of the boys decided to try and rescue the frightened creature, despite the pleading counsel of his friend.  With great difficulty, the boy exhausted himself getting to the animal.  He placed it carefully inside his jacket and attempted to return to the bank of the river.  The current proved too strong for the tired little boy, and he perished.  When rescuers arrived on the scene and retrieved the boy from the water, they found the rabbit inside his jacket.  One of them held up the little creature and said, “He gave his life for this.”

I love flowers (ask Tony and Suanna Raburn) and rabbits.  Yet, they are not worth a human life.  In fact, Jesus says that one soul is worth more than all the material goods of the whole world!  The soul is so valuable that God came in the flesh to die on a cross to save it from sin and eternal punishment.  The value of human life to God is crystal clear.  Yet, as we go about our daily routines, making choices and decisions, are we reflecting that same level of appreciation for our own lives and destinies?  It may not be an object of nature that captures too much of our attention or affection.  It may be a habit, an addiction, bitterness, resentment, an unforgiving heart, a secret sin, an unholy relationship, a destructive friendship, or any number of things.  But, like that flower or that little rabbit, however precious or attractive or endearing it may seem, it is not worth the exchange of our life for it!  Let us maintain a proper value system that takes into account the value of our souls.