BY GREG CRUM
“Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:” Exodus 2:6
If you’ll allow me to borrow a line from the 80s movie “WarGames,” I’ll elicit your participation to start this week’s article with the query, “Shall we play a game?” It’s a simple question-and-answer game of “What would you do?” with the intent to get us thinking about the values we place on things and, ultimately, our value to God.
With that said, let’s begin. What would you do if you bought a cheap pair of sunglasses at one of the various “dollar” stores to get you through a day on the lake, and late in the day you dropped them in deep, cold, murky water? Your answer? If you’re like most, you’d probably just say, “Oh well, they served their purpose, I guess. No use trying to save them now!” and head on to the house minus one pair of sunglasses.
Okay, here’s another scenario for you. What would you do if you’d eaten a good meal at your favorite restaurant and, after eating your fill, had a few leftovers boxed up to take home? You get in the car, drive about an hour towards home and realize you left your box of leftovers on the table at the restaurant. I don’t know about you, but as frustrated as I’d be about the situation, I believe I’d have to say, “Oh well, I’m not driving back to get it now.” I mean it would cost more in gas than what it’s worth, right?
What about this: You had a favorite monthly magazine delivered to your house (What! Some people still do that, right?), and you’d read it cover to cover. You usually keep these magazines for future reference, but in their zeal to clean the house, a family member throws that copy away. To compound the matter, the trash has already been taken out for the week and picked up by the sanitation crew. What are you going to do? Probably regretfully say, “Oh well, I’m not dumpster diving for a magazine!”
Here’s a final scenario for you. What would you do if your, or your wife’s, expensive wedding ring drops down the sink at your local convenience store restroom, or worse yet, in the port-o-potty at the local fair? Uh, yeah, call the plumber ASAP, or someone get the sanitizer ready because I’m jumping in!
So, I know I’m being “Captain Obvious” here, but why the different response to this last scenario? What made the first three lost causes and the last an “all hands on deck”? The value in the eyes of the owner of the object lost, of course!
Brothers and sisters, values are dynamic. The inflation that we’ve experienced over the last four years should have taught us that. However one thing is consistent about the concept of value—it is ultimately set by the one desiring the object that is being valued. The object doesn’t set the value, and ultimately, the person selling the object doesn’t either.
An object receives its current value based on what the highest bidder is willing to pay. That’s Economics 101, but this principle also has spiritual application. You see, our value, the value of the individual human spirit, must be much greater than what we have realized.
Why do I say that? Because the price that the Highest Bidder paid for us was the highest price ever paid for anything ever purchased!
Greg Crum is the pastor of Calvary Temple in Lovely.