Currency is a widespread acceptance or use of an idea, theory, word, or phrase use to explain an exchange.
Purchase is to buy something using money or its equivalent in an object of worth.
Some find it hard that they are worthy of something. They go as far as say they are unworthy of anything good happening to them.
The devil wants you to think you are worth nothing; thus rejecting the hand of God and His love.
We need to experience the love of God to be saved from hell!
What are you worth?
Relative means not permanently fixed, but having a meaning or value that can only be established in relation to something else and will change according to circumstances or context.
Subjective is based on somebody’s opinions or feelings rather than on facts or evidence.
Standard gauge is the Bible.
What does the Bible say about our worth or value to God?
Under the Law in Exodus 21:28-32, if a servant, slave, man or woman is killed by a farm animal then the penalty for the owner of the animal is the death of an animal, the death of another person or thirty shekels of silver. When we consider the betrayal of Jesus by Judas for thirty shekels of silver and the payment of Jesus blood for our sins we see that mankind dead in sin is worth the death and blood of the man Jesus or at least thirty shekels of silver. ‘At least meaning a slave to sin; is worth thirty shekels of silver’
Jesus fulfils the Law and then under grace we are absolved by the payment of Jesus blood for our sins.
We have a wide scale from thirty shekels of silver to the death of Jesus. But we were bought and you only buy something you place a value on.
The lips of knowledge are a Rare Jewel
Proverbs 20:15 There is gold and a multitude of rubies (Pearls H6434); but the lips of knowledge are a rare jewel. (MKJV)
God’s Word says that we are precious, treasured, valued, crowned, exalted, favoured, and a blameless pleasure to God.
Luke 1:77 to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins, (MKJV)
We have been brought to Christ by the Holy Spirit and then with the knowledge of Him we have confessed our sins with faith in Him; therefore our lips have become rare jewels and these jewels are valuable to God.
In Luke1:77 the knowledge of salvation is to know about Jesus and the redemption of our sins he has given us. God gives us His Spirit who gives us wisdom. Then our lips become valuable as soon as we repent and we share about Jesus and our salvation. We can tell other people about Jesus Christ so that they can be saved and go to the heaven. It is nothing we have done to make us important, it is what God does in us that He uses us to touch other people.
Proverbs 8:10-11 Receive my instruction and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. 11 For wisdom is better than rubies (Pearls H4480, H6434); and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it. (MKJV)
In Proverbs 8:10-11 and 20:15, we can see that if we know Jesus our lips from the Hebrew word paw-neen’[1] are probably pearls and very special. . We will see more about pearls in the last chapter of this book.
Makeup
Some girls put on lots of makeup and red lipstick because they want the boys to look at their lips. They want to tell boys, they are interested by having bright lips, which makes the boys look, that is the way in the world. When you are in Christ your lips will speak of Jesus. They become very special; they are jewels because you know Jesus Christ. God wants nothing but to bless you and for you to bless others with the wisdom of knowing Christ. When you share about Jesus you look more handsome and beautiful (Isaiah 53). People will see in us the comeliness and beauty of Jesus; this beauty comes from within our heart, from our innermost being.
Ephesians 1:17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, (MKJV)
In Ephesians 1:17 we are told that we have spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of His salvation Luke 1:77. Add to this Proverbs 20:15 and we can see that our lips are rare jewels, because God has given us His Spirit. He gives us the knowledge that changes us so we can tell others.
Coal is from the ground, it is cold and you can handle it, but within it is potential heat, which comes from its stored energy. Put a flame to it with some wind, and you will get a fire. It is too hot to hold. When you have the Spirit of God in you, you start to burn. It is after your burn, you become changed. When we first became Christians, maybe inside of us there was a little fire, and when we read the Word of God, God blows in our hearts, and a fire starts as the wind of Holy Spirit blows and intensifies.
You will look different; different from other people in the world. I do not know how many times people have said to me: “Why are you so different?” I say, “Because I am a foreigner?” They say “No, but you are so different to other foreigners we know.” I say, “Oh, maybe I am old because I have white hair.” They replied, “No, that’s not it.” I know what they want to hear, but perhaps they do not know what they are seeking. To answer the question, “Why you are so different?” I say, (tongue in cheek), “Because I am young and handsome.” They say, “No you’re not! So what is it?” The answer they are looking for, even though they don’t realize it is, “I love Jesus, and I fell in love with Him”.
I have a question: “When we fell in love does that makes us valuable to your partner?” “Yes” Jesus loves us and we love Him. He is valuable and our lips that speak of Him are valuable too, because these are the lips that tell others about Jesus’ salvation. Without someone to tell them, people cannot come to Him (Revelation 3:18).
Hebrews 13:15 By Him, then, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, confessing His name. (MKJV)
The knowledge of Jesus fills our hearts. If you ask people about the emptiness in their hearts, they do not want to admit it, but they know their hearts are empty. You should have the knowledge to make the empty full, through Jesus. God gives us that knowledge to say: “I know what Jesus did to make me complete, I know He lives because he lives in me”.
Do we know that the word we speak can be precious? To be precious, to be valuable, to be important, something with great importance is to share about Jesus to a lost person.
The Revelation
The revelation is that we have been accepted by God, through what His Son did on the Cross.
Acceptance
Accepted is to receive grace, that is, endue with special honour: – make accepted, be highly favoured. Acceptance is “surrender” or “voluntary submission” to act by taking or receiving something offered to you. Acceptance is being loved for who you are and what you could be. It is a two-way agreement with God and man to show appreciation, validation and support.
Ephesians 1:6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, in which He has made us accepted in the One having been loved. (MKJV)
Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (MKJV)
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind but now I see.
John Newton (1725–1807).
Once we were covered by the filth of our sins like pigs in their mire; and now we are covered by Jesus’ robes of righteousness. His blood soaked sacrifice upon the Cross of Calvary not only covers us but also cleanses internally; removing all sin. It is not our efforts or our self-evaluation that gives us value. Our value is found in the symbiotic relationship we have with the Son of God, the Lord Jesus the Christ who paid for us with His blood. We are sons transposed into the Kingdom of God, justified instantaneously by the faith of Jesus and washed clean. As He shines in us, we shine in Him.
Not only do we get a new spirit, new heart, mind of Christ, the Word of God inscribed on our new heart and the Holy Spirit, which in themselves are tremendous set of changes to bring about our regeneration-cum-renovation, we still get more. We become sons of God transposed into the Kingdom of God, justified instantaneously by the faith of Jesus in us and our faith in Jesus accompanied by our act of repentance.
We are saved by the faith of Jesus
Galatians 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. (KJV)
In Galatians 2:16 it says we are saved by the faith OF Jesus and not by the works of the law. It is Jesus who initiates this free gift of grace on the cross. We now need to take responsibility for our sins by willingly repenting even though our understanding of faith is small, and from this point on our faith in Jesus will help us in life.
In the case Zaccheus in Luke 19:1-10; it was the revelation that Jesus is the Son of God, and the need to repent that set him free. Mark 1:15 urges us to “Repent, and believe the Gospel.” In Luke 13:5 the consequences of not repenting are stressed “But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Jesus commands it in Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.’”
He died for me; giving me some value; a currency hard to bear; or is it?
The Christian is accepted by God based on their personal expression of repentance and belief that Jesus came to take away their sins. We have been vindicated and given a new Legal Standing where our sins are not accounted to us anymore. This is all achieved by the Act of Salvation. The warrant of death and sin against us through the fall of man has been absolved and we have been exculpated and exonerated. We have been vindicated, validated, legalized and exonerated by what Jesus has done; therefore we are now sons of God. It is God through His Son who upholds and maintains our position in His Kingdom. We have been exculpated from any effort to win favour from God in regards to our Salvation; we receive this by His grace and love.
We are freed from our fallen state, so does that mean that we no longer have a feeling of insecurity or inferiority? Regrettably the answer is, “Yes”, but it should be a resounding, NO! The Word of God is plain. Galatians 2:20 and Romans 7:24-25 gives us assurance that we are free from guilt and shame.
We are made in God’s image and after His likeness and it is the revelation that we need to accept Jesus as our Saviour that transposes us into the Kingdom of God. We need to accept the gift of salvation that Jesus has given us. God does not have an insecurity complex but He wants us to accept Him as the Saviour and the answer our needs. Acceptance has the values of love, joy, caring, giving, tolerance, strength, serenity and peace outworking from our (regenerated/renovated) spirit to conscious mind. God wants us to accept Him, as He has accepted us.
God is grieved and broken hearted by those who do not accept Him (Genesis 6:5-8, 1Corinthians 2:7, Psalm 69:20). The inverse is true. God is well pleased by the obedient believer. Colossians 1:21-22 “ 21 And although you at one time were estranged and alienated from Him and were of hostile attitude of mind in your wicked activities,22 Yet now has [Christ, the Messiah] reconciled [you to God] in the body of His flesh through death, in order to present you holy and faultless and irreproachable in His [the Father’s] presence.” (AMP). Colossians 1:14 “In Whom we have our redemption through His blood, [which means] the forgiveness of our sins” (AMP).
Ephesians 1:6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, in which He has made us accepted in the One having been loved. (MKJV)
To God we are worth everything!
[1] Strong’s, Hebrews and Greek Dictionaries – paw-neen’ H4480, H6434;
Nice reading Ian. Thanks buddy.
Thought I’d take a break at work…. and read your devotional thoughts.
Talk sooooon. Nick
On 2017-05-03 22:35, Traillblazer Ministries Australasia, China, India and Africa wrote: > Dr. Ian Traill posted: “Currency is a widespread acceptance or use of > an idea, theory, word, or phrase use to explain an exchange. Purchase > is to buy something using money or its equivalent in an object of > worth. Some find it hard that they are worthy of something. They go as > ” > >
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I really loved that you pulled these verses out and focused on that assurance that we have.
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