Devotions with Pastor Michael

A friend of mine sold four very old silver dollars for $20 a piece at an auction.  When I asked him about the coins, he said, “Those were my wife’s coins.  She got them when she worked at a restaurant several years ago.  One of her customers had a ticket for $4.  He had no other money on him at the time except for those four silver dollars.”
 
I was stunned by this story.  Four silver dollars that someone paid $80 for at an auction.  All four coins had the inscription written on the back “ONE DOLLAR” so the man had every right to legally pay his bill with the currency, but he obviously did not realize the true value of the coins.  What made those ONE DOLLAR coins so valuable?  Their content (silver) and their age (historical/antique value).
 
Many folks today are much like those old coins at the auction.  They have been given a label by society, government, business, church, etc., and that label has given them their designation of their own personal value.  They carry their value with them everywhere they go, much like those silver coins carry “ONE DOLLAR” on their backs.  Unfortunately, the label does not tell two important things about the person: their content (what they are made of) or their historical value (their life experiences).
 
If you’ve ever felt like you don’t have much value, I simply want to remind you today that you are more valuable than what your human-made label denotes.  Your content and your accumulated experiences tell a different story.  Others may not see it and may even mistakenly sell you short of your true value and what God sees—much like the man who surrendered his valuable coins to pay for a $4 meal.  But your true value is greater than you’ve possibly ever imagined.  Just consider the price that God paid for you:
 
“For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors.  And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver.  He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God."  (1 Peter 1:18-19  NLT)

​Pastor Michael