When I was growing up, the value of an average human body when broken down into its basic elements and minerals was, if I remember correctly, something like sixty-seven cents. Of course, prices have gone up! Now one of us is worth about $4.50!
But that was before organ transplants and implants of various kinds. Because of newer medical technologies, the body is worth much more than its chemical components. A survey published in "Wired" magazine several years ago gave hospital and insurance company estimates: a lung is worth $116,400, a kidney $91,400, a heart $57,000. (Keep in mind that selling organs in illegal, unethical, and also in many cases impossible!) Furthermore, these vital organs are no longer the most valuable of our body parts. Bone marrow heads the list with a thousand grams priced at $23,000 per gram, totaling $23 million. DNA can fetch $9.7 million and extricated antibodies, another $7.3 million. Ladies, ovum could bring in $224,000 over eight years. When broken down into fluids, tissues, and other components, our bodies are worth more than $45 million.
Now with the earth's population at nearly 6.8 billion along with all our acquisitions, plus the earth's natural resources, there is astronomical value residing in the world. And yet—there is something even more valuable. "What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?" (Matthew 16:26) When God looks at our world, He doesn't see just canyons and trees, oil reserves, puppies and whales, and little people running everywhere. He sees His eternal Kingdom temporarily inhabiting those "little people." Whether you feel like a million dollars or not on any given day, you are of inestimable worth to Him!
MaryMartha
Scripture quotation is taken from The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. United States of America. All rights reserved.
The statistics on body parts are taken from a cache of http//:soundmedicine.iu.edu/archive/2003/quiz/humanWorth.html The website itself has changed.
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