By Tomas Sullivan, 4th grade
The Bible verse I have chosen teaches the value and dignity of all human beings as created unique by God. I chose Jeremiah 1:5, which says: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I dedicated you.” This Bible verse teaches that God has a plan and mission for each one of us. God picks us before we were even made for a mission to spread His word, and Jesus is the Word made flesh. This teaches us that all flesh and all creatures are created through the Word and so have the dignity of God within them. By embracing this truth we can live out the mission by treating everyone as valuable and having dignity.
Three concrete ways to live this out in our lives are respecting people’s boundaries, telling others that God made them and they are special and unique in being themselves, and clapping for others and cheering them on. By respecting people’s boundaries, we respect their Creator’s boundaries.
For instance, if someone created a LEGO creation and was working on it, they already know the idea in their head, just like God knew us before we were formed. If someone broke a LEGO creation before it was finished, it not only destroys the creation, but it also makes the creator very sad. This is just like abortion.
When we tell others that God made them and they are special and unique, we help them feel valued in being themselves. Just like when we cheer or clap for others and build them up, we are living out the mission by spreading God’s love and making people feel valued. Both of these things help people feel loved and valued. Then they will also want to share love, which makes even more people feel valued. When people feel loved and valued, they are not likely to have an abortion.
All these things are helping people to know that they are unique and set apart from the very beginning. Another example of how to help people see that they are valued even before they are born is like when in Minecraft it will be loading and say “Building Terrain,” which is when the Minecraft game is being made but is not ready to play yet. This is like when God is making the baby in the mom’s womb, and the baby is not quite ready to play yet. However, when in Minecraft you die or the game resets before it is finished loading, this is very frustrating to the player. Likewise, God is forming us in the womb, already knowing us, but when the creation is killed or deleted in a sense, that frustrates God very much because He didn’t get to experience the creation He was working on.
So, as a LEGO designer knows the creation before it is created, so God knows us, like Jeremiah tells us. And like destroying a LEGO creation before it is done is sad and frustrating to the designer, so is the destroying of a life in the womb that God already knows, and He is very sad that He did not get to complete it. If we will cheer people on, tell them God loves them, and treat everyone with the dignity and value of God, then people will be much less likely to destroy God’s creations before they are finished.
Tomas Sullivan received an honorable mention in the elementary school category of the Culture of Life Studies Program’s 2025 Pro-Life Essay Contest.