"And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death."
Revelation 12:11
The whole idea of being valuable and/or worthy is a tough one in the gospel, because there are a lot of seemingly conflicting ideas in the scriptures. It is explained that we are less than the dust of the earth (Helaman 12:7), but that we are "of more value than many sparrows" (Luke 12:7). We learn that man is nothing (Moses 1:10), but also that God will make him worth more than "the golden wedge of Ophir" (Isaiah 13:12).
I'm thinking that the disconnect could be, again, situational but also physical versus spiritual. In terms of God valuing us and our potential, we are all the things that we learn growing up in the church... we are children of God, and of infinite worth. He loves us, and does all things for us to help us succeed. Indeed, "all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" (Roman 8:28). That's from an eternal perspective. But when we are talking about fear of other people, fear of death, or prioriting anything before God, then we're back to "whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it" (Mark 8:35). Our bodies are much less valuable than our souls, and will be restored to us in the resurrection, so the real risk we face in life is to our souls and our eternal potential.
Today, let's make sure that we are prioritizing soul over body, and putting God first in our lives, even before those physical lives. Doing the right thing is more important than the danger of the Lion's Den or the fiery furnace, so it is likely more important than whatever we fear as well.
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