Monica Grady is a professor of planetary and space science and the newest chancellor at Liverpool Hope University in the UK. In other words, she knows (much) more about planetary science than I do.
She thinks there is most likely life beneath the icy exterior shell of Jupiter’s moon Europa.
In fact, she calls this possibility “almost a racing certainty.” While life on Mars is possible, she says, “I think we’ve got a better chance of having slightly higher forms of life on Europa, perhaps similar to the intelligence of an octopus.”
There are plans to send a NASA mission called Europa Clipper to look for life on the frozen moon. And there’s much interest in further exploration of Mars as well. But Grady thinks life on the latter, if it exists, is “likely to be very small—bacteria.”
She adds: “I’m fairly certain we’re all there is at our level of intelligence in this planetary system.”
‘Always remember the source of your personal worth’
A story about aliens (to us, not to them) with the intelligence of an octopus on a moon that is 390 million miles from us is more interesting than practical. Here’s a very practical fact I do know with absolute certainty: God made everything that exists on Europa. And everything that exists on Earth.
And he made it all for a purpose. Including you.
Max Lucado offers this reflection in today’s devotional: “We all ask the question, ‘Am I somebody important?’ It’s easy to feel anything but important when your ex takes your energy, or old age takes your dignity. Somebody important? Hardly. But remember this promise of God: you were created by God, in God’s image, for God’s glory.”
Max then quotes Genesis 1:26 and notes: “God never declared, ‘Let us make oceans in our image,’ or ‘birds in our likeness.’ The heavens above reflect the glory of God, but they are not made in the image of God. Yet you are! And because God’s promises are unbreakable our hope is unshakable!” (his emphasis).
Our culture measures us by what it can measure: how much we make or own, the car we drive, the house we own, what we wear and how we look. God measures us not by what we can do but by what he has done: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
The next time you wonder if your life has value, remember that you have been “died for.” The Creator of the universe considered your eternal life worth the death of his Son. Whether anyone else knows your name, he does. Whether anyone else finds you significant, he does.
What the culture gives, it can take away. The eternal life Jesus gives is eternally yours (John 10:28–29).
When I was in high school, our youth minister gave me the best single piece of advice I’ve ever received: “Always remember the source of your personal worth.”
What is that source for you today?
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