A few days ago, my wife and I decided to stop into an antique shop. I am not sure what she likes about antiques (or why she married one), but I love going through the shops. Most of the time there is an endless amount of junk – and this shop was no exception – but there are also sometimes gems in the rough. We were looking through this shop to find some inexpensive rings for our girls, and in the display that all types of cheap jewelry also had some large copper pennies. I wasn’t sure what they were at first and my wife was trying show me her treasures. We wondered around the shop for a few minutes and went up to pay. At the counter I saw some more of these brass coins. I asked the man about them, and he said that he thought they were British pennies but didn’t know a lot about them. After sorting through them for several minutes I ended up buying them all.
I sorted them out by date, finding the best ones possible of each year. some were in great shape. some were worse for wear. I started noticing some differences in a few of the years. I loved sorting through them and closely looking at each aspect. All of them ended up being Victorian Large Pence. Some were in exceptional condition for being well over a hundred years old, but every last one showed signs of circulation. Some had large marks on them, and others were so smooth you could not get the date off them, let alone see the picture of Britannia or Victoria. As I handled the coins, I could not help but feel connected to the purchases that these coins had made. Each one of these coins had survived the two World Wars and had made their way across the Atlantic Ocean to be saved in someone’s possessions for many years. No longer are they even a legal currency since 1974 -UK went to a decimal system leaving their old system to history. These coins were no longer being spent, but being bought.
Looking at some of the worst examples of these coins made me realize that we – people – are a lot like coins. We were made for a reason, and we were imprinted with our maker’s design. Life has a way of wearing us thin or leaving large gashes on us. The sin of this word has marred the original design of the maker. It also made me thing of something Paul told the Corinthians.
II Corinthians 12:15 KJV
And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved
He was willing to be spent for them. He means that his energy, and power and resources are being used to benefit them. No one can say that Paul was not marred by this world, but he gladly took all of that for the benefit of others. He was spent for God’s use. However God wanted to use Paul he was up for the job. Prison, shipwreck, beatings, or even stoning he was ready to be spent.
We are not designed to be put up on a shelf and be preserved so that people one hundred years from now can see how amazing God made us. No, we are designed to be spent for Christ’s purposes.
S.T.
Acts 20:26
"But none of these things move me..."
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