My only appointment in life is to agree with God. (Everything else comes from this.) God sees every person on the planet as having unsurpassable worth. Therefore, in agreeing with God, I must ascribe unsurpassable worth to every person on the planet.

Every person. My wife, my friends, my cubicle mate, my boss.

Every person. The waitress who leaves my glass empty for twenty minutes before offering a refill. The guy driving 50 in a 55-mph zone on a one-lane road. The new neighbors who moved in downstairs two weeks ago, and scream at each other from 6:00 to 11:00 PM every night.

Every person. The president. The former president. The latest train-wreck celebrity. The televangelists I denounced a few weeks ago, and the missionary who used support money to buy himself a mansion in Ireland. Unsurpassable worth.

When I pass up an opportunity to help someone, that person becomes of less worth to me than my own time or convenience, and I disagree with God.

When I think of myself as better than another, when I give into the temptation to rank myself—aren’t we all just slightly above average in our own appraisal?—my own worth has surpassed someone else’s, and I disagree with God.

When I add to the gospel (in Galatians, it was circumcision; today, it’s moralizing), I say that a person’s worth can be increased if they do something, and I disagree with God.

Love is not something we “master” or “get past”, only to move onto the next spiritual discipline. Love is everything—first for God (with all your heart, soul and mind) and then for others (as yourself). I know this is true, but I still find myself disagreeing with God when he says that this is what I should be known for. I would rather be known for other things. But this is where I must decrease (my tendencies and my idea of what is right) and allow Him to increase.