For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Romans 12:3-5

The Lord has blessed me with a wife who has stuck with me for 44 years. He has given me a Christian mother, sister and two daughters. If you were to ask what are they worth to me, I would be hard-pressed to come up with the words that would explain their value. Certainly, anything which spoke in terms of dollars and cents could never enter my reply.

Many of you Christian men can understand and will agree.

This is why a document that was recently issued by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is so incredibly troubling and so very wrong -- ethically, morally and spiritually. The document I refer to is an official price list for the sale of Yazidi and Christian women and children who have been abducted by members of that despicable group.

The document was motivated by a glut of slaves who have recently shown up in the marketplace. To combat falling prices, ISIS has decided the value of Christian women and girls to be

* a (Yazidi or Christian) slave woman, aged 40 to 50 years, will sell for 50,000 dinars ($43);

* a (Yazidi or Christian) slave woman, aged 30 to 40 years, will sell for 75,000 dinars ($64);

* a (Yazidi or Christian) slave woman, aged 20 to 30 years, will sell for 100,000 dinars ($86);

* a (Yazidi or Christian) slave girl, aged 10 to 20 years, will sell for 150,000 dinars ($129);

* a (Yazidi or Christian) slave girl, aged 1 to 9 years, will sell for 200,000 dinars ($172).

It is incomprehensible to me the civilized nations of the world would allow anyone to steal women and girls from their families and publicly place them on the auction block where their freedoms are ended, and they become property to be used and abused.

Brethren, these things ought not so to be.

How very different is Christianity which has a Savior who lived, died and rose so that Jews and Greeks, male and female, slave and free, might all be granted forgiveness and eternal life.

How blessed we are to have a Savior who took little children in His arms and blessed them rather than abusing or enslaving them.

How wonderful it is to have a Lord who has encouraged, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her" (Ephesians 5:25).

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, we live in a world where the powerful mistreat the weak and where men say God has endorsed their slavery of women. Today I ask You to protect our sisters and daughters in the faith from such monsters and grant that our homes may be a beacon of Christian joy for all the world to see. This I ask in the Savior's Name. Amen.

In Christ I remain His servant and yours,

Today's Bible Readings: Zechariah 11-12    Revelation 2

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