Mar 23 - Cost and Value

Mar 23

    Cost and Value

2Sa 24:24 ….that which doth cost me nothing. 

For several years I have described what seems like senseless waste as “That which cost nothing, is worth nothing”.  People who are given costly things, may not care for them or value them because they did not have to pay for them. College students are especially susceptible to this when they do not value their educational opportunities because good ole dad is footing the bill. For them college is a chance to party-hardy without parental interference. Not all students do that, but it is so common as to need no further explanation. That which cost nothing is worth nothing.

     Another “truism” I often use is similar. It explains why some people make silly decisions when it comes to things and finances. “Too many people know the cost of everything and the value of nothing”  I once found an old wood plane with a set of cutters in the original wooden box. It was in a garage sale and I gladly paid the $5 price, knowing that plane was worth a lot more.  A few years later I had not used it and it was just taking up space so I sold it to a guy who wanted it. He paid me $35. I made $30 profit and felt pleased with myself until I happened to see a book in the library on the price of antique woodworking tools. Yes, you have already guessed it. That wonderful plane I sold for $35 was valued in the book at $1500.

     But the people who know the cost of everything and the value of nothing, do not make a one-time mistake like I did. It is a way of thinking for them. They see everything as dollars and cents. The intrinsic value of something is lost to them. They will not pay the cost of anything that is worthless to them. They equate cost with value. If it cost a lot is has a lot of value. Scam artists thrive on people like that.

     An example of that is found in the new testament. Only a few days before Christ was crucified, a woman came to him while he ate and poured some very expensive ointment on his head. The apostles were upset with the woman. She had just “wasted” 300 pence worth of ointment that could have been sold and the money used to feed the poor. They knew the cost but not the value of what she had done.  It is interesting that after this in Mark’s gospel Judas went to betray Christ. It must have driven the money hungry Judas to distraction to see all that money slip away from his grasp. It may have been the last straw for him. At least he could get some money from the chief priest for turning Christ in.  He knew the cost of everything and the value of nothing!

    Another example is Ananias and Sapphira, who sold something and kept back part of it before coming to the Apostles and donating only a portion of the price. Acts 5 reveals to us they knew the cost of things but not the value  But our verse for today is just the opposite.

    In the last few verses of 2 Samuel, (and 1 Chron 21) we see David again repenting of sin. He is told by God to build an alter in a particular place. David goes personally to purchase the ground for the alter. He is a king, he is doing what God told him to do, and yet he does not assume the right to take the land. He will buy it.  The owner of the land offers the land for the alter, his oxen for the sacrifice and his wooden farming tools for the fire. But David refuses such a generous offer. He pays the going price for the land and oxen. Why wouldn’t David have accepted such a generous and noble offer?

  2Sa 24:24, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

David will not offer to God something which cost him nothing!  Value is more important to him than cost. Unfortunately that is too often not the case with some Christians today. They will find the least costly way to worship God. If the exercise of religion becomes costly, in time, attention, or simply bother they groan under the weight of such high costs. Some won’t even pay attention. They seek a form of worship which deprives the least of their time, recreation, attention or goods. They are happiest when there is no cost to their religion. They do not value it and therefore do not want to suffer any burden of cost. A religion which costs little is desirable. One which costs nothing at all, is even better. I leave with two thoughts for your consideration. First, how much does your Christianity cost you? What value have you attached to it?

     Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, what did your salvation cost God? We know how much he valued us.  Let us think today on these two questions. What does it cost us; what did it cost God?

 

Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world,

that he gave his only begotten Son…