An acquaintance of mine sold 4 very old silver dollars for $20 a piece at an auction I went to. When I asked him about the coins he said, “Those were my wife’s coins. Do you know where she got them from?” He went on to tell me that his wife works in a restaurant in Cullman and that one of her customers had a ticket for $4. He had no other money on him at the time so he paid his bill with the 4 old silver dollars… 4 silver dollars that someone paid $80 for just a few days later at the auction. I was stunned. All four coins have the inscription written on the back “ONE DOLLAR” so the man had every right to legally pay his bill with the currency, but he obviously did not realize the true value of the coins.
What made those ONE DOLLAR coins so valuable? 2 things: Their content (silver) and their age (historical/antique value). Many folks today are much like those old coins at the auction. They have been given a label by society, government, business, church, etc., and that label has given them their designation of their own personal value. They carry their value with them everywhere they go much like those silver coins carry “ONE DOLLAR” on their backs. Unfortunately, the label does not tell two important things about the person: their content (what they’re made of) or their historical value (due to their life experiences). If you think you’re “past your prime” and are diminishing in value I’d like to contradict that thought. Your content and your accumulated experiences in life have made you more valuable than what your man-made label denotes. Others may not see it and may mistakenly sell you short of your true value, much like the man who surrendered his valuable coins to pay for a $4 meal. But your true value is greater than you’ve possibly ever imagined…. just consider the price that God paid for you:
For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. – 1 Peter 1:18-19 (NLT)
