While getting out of my car today at Taco Bell I spotted four copper pennies amidst the ice and slush that covered the parking lot. When I was a boy I would have been thrilled to no end over such good fortune. Four pennies would have warranted a trip to the corner grocery store where I could select four wonders from the glass case by the door. I could get a pair of big red wax lips, a piece of Double Bubble, a large yellowish-orangish marshmallow peanut and a Tootsie roll. If I saved them until I had six more pennies I could get a Superman Comic Book. Can you believe it? Sixty years have passed and I didn’t bother to stoop to pick them up. Shame on me. But then I’m not sure what I could get with four cents.
I am so glad God doesn’t devalue us. He could think, “I have billions of people on earth. It doesn’t matter if I lose four.” Hebrews 7:25 says, “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” I love to change one of the words to “guttermost.” It really works. It says so much. No matter how worthless we might think we are, each of us is a treasure to God. Each of us is the reason for Jesus’ sacrifice. When it comes to people there is no bypassing even one.
One of my favorite stories is found in Matthew 9. A woman who had been crushed to the ground by the crowd touched his robe. Instantly he stopped and went back to her. She made His day. Actually she made His whole mission.
Written by Roger Bothwell on January 9, 2009
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
rogerbothwell.org