Is that Valuable?

What gives something value? Easy enough question right? Let’s see we have money, gold, cars, jewelry, gems, and other commodities. But what actually gives these things value? We do! Gold is only valuable because someone discovered it one day and said that it was worth a lot. Money is cotton sewed together with a number on it telling us how much it is worth, cars are about as valuable as how fast they go, and gems are valued by their rarity and strength.

While talking about Locke in class on Thursday we discussed something called the Labor Theory of Value. This is where value equals amount of labor. Is this theory biblical?

“Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them? The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep.” –Ecclesiastes 5:10-12

So I would have to say that, yes, the Labor Theory of Value is biblical. We should put forth labor with everything we have because that is truly what gives them value. We should also give what we can away to those who are in need of our help. There is no use in keeping everything we have locked away for only us to look at and take pleasure in. We can take this and look at the biggest gift we could ever receive, the gift of eternal life. God didn’t give us that gift for us to keep bottled inside, and for only us to take pleasure in. Instead, he gave us this wonderful gift so that we could go to all the ends of the earth and show it to them.