In the Eye of the Buyer

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder just as worth is in the eye of the buyer.

Have you ever been to a garage sale?  There is stuff laid out on tables, the ground, hanging up.  There are toys, clothes, electronics, furniture, knick knacks, gadgets, and so much more.  For the most part, the seller deems this stuff junk, stuff that just takes up space.  Get rid of the old and bring in the new.  As people come to look at all this “junk”, they see things as valuable, not as junk.  They will find something worth paying for.  Something they cannot live without.  And they will then ask the price.  If the buyer deems the price worthy, they will complete the sale.  But if the price is not comparable to their idea of worth, they will not pay the price.  It is not worth it.

My students are obsessed with Jordans.  They will spend $175 on a pair of shoes.  Scratch that.  Their parents will spend $175 on a pair of shoes. These shoes do not do their homework for them.  They do not help them jump many feet in the air.  The shoes don’t make them run faster.  But the students have determined the worth of the shoes and they have paid the price for them.  But I would never pay that much for a pair of shoes.  They are not worth it. 

If I could buy any car, without thought of price or where the money would come from, I would purchase an Audi S8 Eight Speed Tiptronic transmission with quattro all-wheel drive with a solar roof.  I’m drooling.  The cost of this car that I will drive only in my dreams?  A mere $111,945.  Chunk change, right?  As much as this is the car of my dreams, I would never pay this much for a car.  A house, maybe.  But not a car.  People obviously pay the price for this car.  Some people believe it to be a good deal.  I, personally, do not find the price to be worth it.  My heart breaks with the reality that I will never own this car, or any Audi, for that matter.  But it is not worth it.

There is a whole planet of people.  These people have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).  These people have rejected God on many occasions.  People like David who had an affair and killed the woman’s husband by sending him to the front line of the battle (2 Samuel 11).  People like Saul (who later became Paul) who killed many Christians (Acts 9).  People like Zacchaeus who stole from the poor to make himself rich (Luke 19).  People like Moses who killed another man (Exodus 2).  People like Rahab who was a harlot (Joshua 2).  People like me.  A sinner.  What would you pay for even one of these people?  What would you be willing to give for the life of just one of them?  How much do you think they are worth?

But there is One who found all the above to be worthy.  He did not just pay the price for one of the above, but for ALL mankind.  And what He paid was not in the same kind of currency we use to deem something worthy.  He paid for us with His blood, with His life.  “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8).  Christ died for us while we are still sinners.  He did not give His life for those that had already repented.  He didn’t give His life to just the perfect.  He died for all of us even though we are still sinning.  He died for us before He even knew us. 

It reads in Ephesians 2:4-9 “⁴ But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ⁶ and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast.” And in Titus 3:4-7 “⁴ But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, ⁵ not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

Romans 8:32 “³² He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”

When you begin to feel that you are not worthy, you begin to doubt your self-worth, remember that you were bought by someone who deemed you worthy.  You were bought by the blood of Jesus.  He gave His life for YOU.  He saw you and found you worthy.  God gave His one and only Son because He loved you so much. (John 3:16)  He considered you to be worth it.  He knew what He was giving up.  But He did not want to spend eternity without you.  He determined you are worth giving up His life so that you would have a chance at eternal life. 

Worth is found in the eye of the buyer and this Buyer deemed me worthy.

Our worth is determined not by worldly factors but By the Grace of God.