Value

Matthew 26:15 - "How much will you pay me to betray Jesus to you?"  And they gave him thirty pieces of silver.

The life of our Savior was valued at 30 pieces of silver.

I looked this up to see how much that would be in today's money.  Depending on where you look, it is anywhere from $20 to $300.  Even thought that's a pretty big range, and that kind of money would have gone a lot further in those days, it's still a pittance for the value of a life.  Particularly the life of our Savior.

But there's more to those 30 pieces of silver.

In Exodus 21:32, 30 pieces of silver was the going rate for the price of a slave.  In Leviticus 27:3, it was the value of a woman, who at that time carried less value than a man (we live in different times).  And then in Hosea 3:2, it was the value of a prostitute.  While all of these people had inherently less value than that of a regular person at the time, they were considered of equal value with Jesus Christ.  Except by God, of course.  With Jesus being God's only Son, He loved Him more than anything.  God's own words in Matthew 17:5 tell us that He was God's dearly loved Son who brings Him great joy.

Here's the kicker:  What's our value?  The blood of God's dearly loved Son who brought Him great joy.  God loved us that much that He sacrificed His Son so that we could be with Him and have an intimate relationship with Him...for eternity!  Not only that, He did it even though we were still sinners (Romans 5:8), and might never accept His free gift of eternal life.  Who does that?!

A loving and forgiving Father who is full of grace and mercy, that's Who.

It's very easy to sit and believe that we're not worthy of that.  I know I have.  I spent a long time believing that, as I'm sure a lot of people have.  Jud Wilhite put that into a great perspective in his book Pursued when he said that when we believe that we aren't worthy and refuse to accept God's free gift, we are basically saying that God has to pay a higher price...who are we to tell God this price wasn't enough?  Pastor Wilhite says that this is pride fueled by the pain of unresolved shame and guilt.  He tells us to lay it down and tell God that while the price was higher than what we think we are worth, we will receive it with gratitude (Chapter 6).

God paid the highest price possible to free us from our sins and our certain death, just in the hope that we would love Him back, and share our eternal life with Him in paradise.  For me, I'm not that great of company, so I can't imagine why He would want to spend eternity with me.  But I won't argue.  I'll happily accept it.

It isn't up to us to decide if we were worth it or not.  We are, because He says we are.  He did it with no guarantee of any return on his investment (to put it in business terms).  How blessed are we when we recognize and appreciate our value that He determined, and return it back to Him in service, honor, praise, and worship.  What we are returning back could never be enough, but it's all He asks of us.

Dear Abba Father, thank You for valuing me above and beyond anything I could ever imagine.  Thank You for the sacrifice of Your dearly loved Son.  While the price was higher than what I think I am worth, I happily receive it with gratitude.  You know my worth much better than I do, and I trust Your calculations.  Thank You so much for accepting me with all my quirks and shortcomings, and I pray that I can be of use to Your Kingdom on earth and in Heaven.  I will gladly serve, praise, honor, and worship You with all that I have for the rest of my life on earth and eternity in Your Kingdom.  I pray for those that haven't laid down their pride fueled by the pain of their unresolved shame and guilt.  My prayer is that Your Holy Spirit will continue to stir in their hearts so that they can see that their inherent value is far greater than they could possibly imagine and they will come to You on bended knee and accept Your free gift of salvation and eternal life.  In Jesus' precious, powerful, and Holy name I pray.  Amen!



God Bless!!!