What are you worth? Figuring out your worth or the worth of anything can be a difficult task. Allow me to give you an illustration.
Back when I was at seminary in Springfield, Illinois, I spent a fair amount of time wandering through the museums dedicated to Abraham Lincoln. At one of those museums, I saw a few square inches of silk.
Now silk can be an expensive cloth, but this bit of material is not for sale. Offer what you want, you can't buy it. Why? Well, its value is not because it was once part of a dress owned and worn by a young lady by the name of Clara Harris. Not one person in a hundred would be able to recognize Harris' name.
No, that silk has value because - the night Abraham Lincoln was assassinated - Clara Harris was sitting in the president's box with him. After Lincoln had been shot, she caught him and cradled his head in her lap. Like a mother might cradle her child, she held him.
And Harris' beautiful silk dress was stained by the blood of a great man. It is Lincoln's blood that caused the state of Illinois to buy that dress. It is Lincoln's blood that gives those square inches of silk their immense value.
This takes me back to the original question: what are you worth?
Some will say your body, broken down into its various base elements, is worth a few dollars. Justice will say you are, because of your sin, worth less than nothing. But the Heavenly Father has put a different value on you.
Because of His Son's life's blood poured out on Calvary's cruel cross, you have a different value. Because of Jesus' blood you are washed, you are forgiven and, with Holy Spirit-given faith, you are saved.
What are you worth? You were worth the life of God's Son: you were worth saving.
And for that we should give unending thanks to the Lord.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, there are times when people and problems, times and troubles wish to grind me down and make me feel worthless. Especially at such moments may my eyes be lifted to the cross, so I might see the Savior. Let me realize You have made me valuable because my sins have been washed away by the blood of Jesus, my Savior. In His Name I pray this. Amen.
Pastor Ken Klaus
Lutheran Hour Ministries
www.lhm.org
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