Dignity is worth that has no substitute. Here are three perspectives I have been looking at that have challenged me.

In the kingdom of ends everything has either a price or a dignity. What has a price can be replaced by something else as its equivalent; what on the other hand is raised above all price and therefore admits of no equivalent has a dignity. – Immanuel Kant

C.S. Lewis describes this in his famous sermon “The Weight of Glory”: “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. … Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbor, he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ vere latitat — the glorified and the glorifier, Glory Himself, is truly hidden.”

“The basis upon which Christians can speak to one another is that each knows the other as a sinner, who, with all his human dignity, is lonely and lost if he is not given help.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

If I treat all my relationships exactly the same, I would be failing in the recognition of dignity that they each possess as unique imagers of the Creator.  I am fascinated how Jesus models this kind of relationship with His disciples. I am challenged to disciple like He did – treasuring, valuing and preserving their unique personalities, giftings and identities. An honest look at how Jesus discipled reveals a profound respect for individual dignity.

I am left with this word from Titus and I leave the same for you. Titus brings this close link between deed (action or good works) and word (speech and teachings).

Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity,  and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. – Titus 2:7-8  ESV