Valuables
Archaeology is the study of ancient and recent civilizations through material things. The archaeologist is tasked with constructing what a civilization may have been like thousands of years ago from the remains of the stuff created by that civilization. These scientific investigators can reconstruct what type of culture may have existed within a society. Was it monotheistic, polytheistic, or non-religious? Did the people irrigate their fields for planting? Were they predominantly peaceful, or was it a warring culture? These and many more aspects of a civilization can be discovered through archaeology.
While archaeological endeavors can tell us how people lived in ancient cultures, they cannot tell us about the life of the people. Wait. What’s the difference between how the people lived and their life? I believe that there is a big difference between the two. My support for this belief is none other than the Son of God. The gospel of Luke quotes Jesus, "Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." The covetousness that Jesus is warning us about is a strong desire to have stuff that belongs to others. The word consist means to be made up of. The Lord of Lords established that a person’s life is not composed of the things in it, even though the things may be in abundance.
Do not devalue your life by considering it according to the stuff you own.
This truth is the reality in which every human exists, it can be unequivocally stated that having much material possessions does not improve life. How a person lives may be influenced by the possessions he has, but his life is found outside of those possessions and is therefore valued apart from them. This, of course, begs a question and may point a convicting finger. Is it Godly to be more concerned about the way one lives rather than life itself? To be fair, Jesus understood that humans required possessions to live on the earth. The Messiah allowed His own earthly existence to be influenced by people who had possessions - note the donkey He rode in on. But, without question, Jesus’ statement in Luke 12 is intended to warn the reader against desiring what others have because what you have has no effect of value on the life God granted you.
To be sure, your possessions can affect the way you value your life. But, who cares what you think? We are talking about God Almighty here. How does the Creator of all things value your life? Well, He sent His one and only Son to die for you. I would suggest He put an extremely high value on your life. Is that because of who you are? What you have done? Or, laughably, the stuff you have? Absolutely not. The value inherent in your life is that which God Himself placed in it.
According to Genesis 1:31, after God made everything He stepped back to take a look, and what He saw He valued as “very good.” A perfect, almighty, all-knowing, omnipotent Creator made you with His own hands, breathed His own breath into you, and said that you are valuable. That, and that alone, is the value of your life. Never value yourself based on the car you drive, the house you live in, the job you have, or the clothes you wear. That stuff can only tell you how you live. It is not you. You are are much more valuable.