I spent a little time on the internets and found various definitions of the word "value". I thought the best place to get a definition was business/economy websites (so I can get another angle on what they think this word means). Man, was my head spinning!I am a very right brained/creative-esqe person, so all this math talk and accounting jibber jabber messed me all up. I finally find a more tame definition that I could understand on a well known economist website... "An amount, as of goods, services, or money, considered to be a fair and suitable equivalent for something else; a fair price or return."
value = a determined amount of worth something has.
I think I have lost the understanding of the term "value"(or "cost"), because I have grown up in the age of consumer debt. (i.e. the credit card) I mean, as soon as I hit college I had three credit cards to my name and boy did I like to use them! It made it so easy for me to forget about "value/cost" of the item, because I could easily get it with a $3000 credit limit.
But let's look at things from another angle besides the monetary. When I was in high school we were issued athletic clothes/gear etc. The varsity football team was issued a shirt that said "Pay the Price" on it. Now, that seems kinda cheeseball looking back on it, but coach really wanted us to understand that if we wanted to play well, win district and win state we had to "pay the price" to get there. We had to determine what the worth of our goal was. Was it worth an extra 15 minutes in the gym? An extra 30?
I really think I could use an undershirt like that now-a-days. Not to go out and win a state championship, but to live the life Christ has called me to every day. Now if you are not a Christ-follower this may not completely apply to you, but it could.
Now, I'm not advocating you can go out and merit your salvation by works (because it is by grace alone), but I'm saying many of us spend our lives punking out to the high calling Christ has for us. Look at the book of James! He challenges people back then like we need to today.
We show God how much value we place in his sacrifice by what we do. Just like paying a determined amount of worth for a product, we place value on the sacrifice of Christ by how we live out each day. I don't see any other way around this. We do what we can do in our power to give God his just due each day in word and in deed.
Hard? Of course! I shudder at the thought of paying the price each day. Because now I am accountable to what I have just written. Am I going to b.s my way through this blog? Or am I really going to set in my mind to give God value each day?
Let's not be caught lowering the value of Christ's sacrifice, or the value of the Church (which is his bride), or the value of service to others, or the value all the gifts Christ's sacrifice gives us? Let's live today in the true value of the sacrifice of our beautiful and lovely savior!
Do you recall the words to the hymn..." Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe..." Do we mean that today?
Take time today to Value-size your faith!
