It Goes Both Ways

Every human is created in the image of God.  This means, at the very least, that everything we do as image bearers is extremely significant.  When we communicate with words, people are affected.  When we act with our volition and use our hands, we are creating ripples that continue on in the lives of other image bearers.  There is no way around this.  When it's good - it's good.  But when it's bad - it's bad.

This is one reason why we desire to be noticed when we accomplish something great.  Parents praise a child's first words, friends praise the graduation of a friend, and societies praise the heroic efforts of others they don't even personally know.  When people do great things, people praise and rejoice greatly.  This validates the weight of our lives as image bearers.  In these times we find significance beyond our failings - a significance that is rooted in the intrinsic value given by our Creator.

But it goes both ways.  When image bearers commit heinous acts, other image bearers notice and respond accordingly.  The height of human experience reached when a hero saves a life is now thrown into the depths of human sorrow when a murderer takes one, or twenty.  And the praises that are given a student at graduation are transformed into charges given a criminal at his trial.  It goes both ways.  It must in order to preserve the value of the image bearer - the value of the victim as well as the criminal.

This is why societies that praise no accomplishments and punish no crimes are filled with people who feel as if they have no value whatsoever.  A student who is awarded a degree for doing nothing is worthless - not to us necessarily, but to himself.  And a criminal who is left unpunished for his crime is also worthless.  Though he would probably never say it, he would ultimately agree that a death sentence is better than no sentence at all.

We have to wonder if this is why crime is to prevalent in our day.  Kids are rewarded for doing absolutely nothing.  They are not justly punished for committing crime.  A lack of justice on either side of the spectrum - reward or punishment - has left them empty, devalued, and less than image-bearers.  This is probably why the strong hands of a police officer, though painful, are deeply meaningful.  And this is why the indicting voice of a judge, though condemning, feels loving.  He at least has value now.  His actions have meant something.  Finally, even behind bars, he is somebody.