Judah was feeling RICH yesterday!
One of the eggs in his pile of Easter egg hunt spoils didn’t only have a piece of stale candy in it, but also a folded-up one-dollar-bill! A few other eggs yielded more coins... such lucrative bounty took Judah completely by surprise, and sent his mind spinning as to what he could spend his treasure on.
Commence life lessons on how far a dollar actually goes in this day-in-age.
Easter this year, social distancing style, gave me extra time to ruminate in the truths surrounding the reason for this sacred holiday. My mind kept going back to the incredible subjectivity of the concept of “VALUE.”
We each have our own ideas about what’s “valuable,” and how much “value” each person, place, or thing holds.
In a very real sense, a thing is worth the amount that someone is willing to pay for it, right?
But is an antique, broken vase ACTUALLY worth $10,000? 🤔
Seriously, though, it’s fascinating to look at Jesus’ life to see what it looks like to “value” something with a 100% righteous and perfect perspective.
I’m shocked when I read the Bible with this lens. The lens of “absolute value.”
Ever squirm while reading the “beatitudes” when Jesus says, “Blessed” are these people: the poor, the persecuted, the meek, the humble? (Matthew 5:1-12) There’s something of value here in His mind that we simply don’t see from the world’s perspective.
His value system is WAY different than the world’s.
According to Jesus,
- Future treasure is more valuable than present comfort. (Matthew 6:19-21)
- A broken heart before the Lord is more valuable than a sacrificial gift. (Psalm 51:16-17)
- Being a servant or slave is more valuable than being “first” or “great.” (Matthew 20:26-28)
- Being in a place of understanding our need for Jesus is more valuable than being politically correct (or “spiritual”) with our actions/reactions. (Matthew 23:23)
BECAUSE a person finding true Life in Christ is more valuable than ANYTHING.
Every day that Jesus lived was a demonstration for us as to how we should appropriate VALUE.
Easter weekend, a couple thousand years ago, was about Jesus purchasing a WAY for you and I to be saved and in living relationship with Himself. Yours and my lives are what He holds as absolute uttermost in value.
On another note, but equally as helpful to me, there were a lot of people who placed a sort of “value” on Jesus during the 33 years He was on earth.
- The prostitute who interrupted the party thought He was worth a year’s wages when she broke open expensive perfume on the feet of Jesus to honor Him. (John 12:3)
- Judas thought 30 Denarii (about $500 today) was a fair price to betray Jesus and hand Him over to murderers. (Matthew 26:14-15)
- Pilate was willing to turn him over to the people for free if they’d like to keep Barabbas on death row. (Matthew 27:21-22)
Jesus knew His value in the eyes of His Father and wasn’t swayed by the world’s opinion of the “value” of his life.
I don’t know about you, but I’m all too swayed. I’m confused and work hard for the wrong reasons sometimes: to make the people around me blessed and happy... and in turn, I steal my own joy away when others don’t “value” my work as highly as I do.
When in actuality, we are TREASURED, SOUGHT AFTER, and HIGHLY VALUED by the One who really gets the concept of “value”!
May we rest in His demonstrated gift of VALUE placed on each one of us, and in turn live FREE from the concern of the value other people place on us.
"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9)
And when we feel especially lonely, rejected, and lacking, may we, with Paul, describe ourselves rightly as “sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things.” (2 Corinthians 6:10)
Indeed, there are unexpected riches out there in our “Easter Spoils” – may we know the RICHES that are ours, fellow believers!
You are highly, highly valued in the eyes of the Almighty God.
Grateful,
Comments