Value

This past weekend, the Jacobsma clan gathered together at Grand Prairie Events for an auction of my late father-in-law’s treasures. Bernie was an avid collector of toys—tractors, implements, trucks, horse drawn carriages and more. The 2-day event was fun; fun to be together, fun to assist the auctioneers, fun to see familiar faces, and fun to imagine how much Dad would have enjoyed being there.

Some family members are also involved in collecting toys and know a good deal when they see one, but that is not the case for me. I am in the same category as my sister in law who said, “I clearly know nothing about toy auctions. Things that I thought would go cheap brought a higher dollar and things that I thought would do well, sold low.” We just couldn’t make sense of it.

As I reflected on the weekend, VALUE seemed to be the theme that kept coming up for bid in my mind. Ultimately the value of each item was determined by the highest bidder. Some bidders saw the possibility of  an item increasing in value or maybe re-selling it for a profit. Some saw the value in buying a gift for a loved one at a discounted price. Other bidders determined value based on sentimental reasons. Such was the case for my daughter. She loves horses and loves Grandpa and she was not going to stop bidding until the set of Appaloosa horses and wagon was hers. Regardless of the reason, in the end, each toy sold for an amount that someone was willing to pay.

There’s a story in the Bible about an auction. It’s found in the book of Hosea. Hosea was a prophet to the people of Israel, warning them of the calamity that was going to come if they continued to be unfaithful to their covenant with God. In an unusual “object lesson”, God commands Hosea to take a prostitute as his wife. Hosea obeys the Lord and marries Gomer. The local people must have thought he was crazy. Hosea and Gomer have 3 children together before old habits resurfaced. She walks away from Hosea and returns to her former ways of prostitution. But God isn’t finished with this lesson. He tells Hosea to go after his wife even though she is unfaithful, and to love her as the Lord loves the Israelites even though they also have been unfaithful and worship other gods. So Hosea goes to the local auction and purchases Gomer for 15 shekels of silver and some barley. Now, I can’t tell you the value of a shekel, and I’m not sure that it’s important, but we do know from Exodus 21:32 that the going rate for a slave was 30 shekels. This gives us a pretty good idea of what the other bidders thought Gomer was worth. I have to wonder if there were even others that were interested, or if Hosea offered the only bid.

This story gives us a beautiful illustration of God’s unrelenting pursuit and love for us. God loves us in spite of our unfaithfulness, and in spite of what value others see in us. He loves us with an everlasting love and paid a high price. John 3:16-17 says “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save (purchase) the world through him.”

You, my friend, are valuable to the Lord. Maybe you think your value is limited and you feel like a half-priced clearance item like Gomer, but our value is not determined by our achievements or our failures. Our value is determined by the One who paid it all! “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So Glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). And just as Hosea said to Gomer, our Father says to us, “You must dwell as mine… You will not belong to another.”

Erin Jacobsma

 

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