August 30, 2013

Priceless

We learn of the exorbitant prices people pay for objects of art, precious gems or seats on a space shuttle, but we know that the value of anything is set by what someone is willing to pay.
During worship services I often hear meditations that reflect what a terrible and awful price Christ paid on the cross and I wonder if that thought is skewed. Certainly the death of Jesus was awful and terrible, but is the price that he paid for our salvation awful and terrible?
The price was set by God, which was the blood of Christ and that puts all of us in the category of priceless. “You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.” (1 Cor 7:23 NIV)

2 comments:

Steve Corey said...

Gail;

-----If I thought two thoughts per minute for ten minutes, I would have thought twenty thoughts. If I’d have had three feelings per thought, I would also have experienced sixty feelings. Though our feelings stream and our conscious thoughts seem only a few per minute, the more active sub-conscious is much busier. Moreover, replace the ten minutes of this equation with eternity and note that we not only perceive what we think and feel, but God experiences every thought and feeling with us, too.
-----He can not do anything other than experience them. He does everything in perfection, so He empathizes completely, eternally. And He knows and is involved in every thought and feeling in existence, from the most minuscule of all inklings to the overwhelming grandeur of the most complicated insight. Therefore evil will be banished so that His empathy will no longer require limitation because of His non-involvement with anything deceitful and destructive.
-----Presently, His awareness must deal with the fallacious mentality of others. Every one has it, “Let God be true though every man be false.” (Rom 3:4), and He sees all that we have, “Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the LORD how much more the hearts of men!” (Prov 15:11) In His forbearance towards the presence of this evil sea are two attitudes arising from the righteousness of His responses: a storage of wrath unto its proper time, and a dismissal of some evil He will end in order to perfect some folks who yearn for righteousness. Indeed, there comes a day when His forbearance stops and He removes the presence of deceit and destruction from even His mental awareness by casting it into the lake of fire.
-----From that point in time forward through all eternity not a thought or feeling will be anything other than purely true and rightfully constructive. Not a thing thought or happening will be in the slightest, minuscule aspect other than anything absolutely and completely beneficial in every last effect it causes. Now, think about those thoughts and feelings per minute times eternity times only one soul saved from the destruction of this present hell hole. That is an infinite amount of experience not only for God to empathetically perceive, but also for all the other of His beloved, passionate-love-effervescing critters of heaven. What a massive treasure! And then realize that not just one person is numbered for salvation, but myriads have cried out to Him for this clean-up unto perfection.
-----God applies limitation to evil, not to righteousness. The boundaries restricting evil to its place mean that all the evil thoughts and feelings and deeds that were the weight upon our dear Jesus are finite in number. Though they seem to our thinking as countless, that is only because of the enormity of that number. But even the enormity of a huge, finite number is yet reduced to the significance of zero by the infinite enumeration of eternity’s continuous, blissful, perceptions.
-----It is true that the price of something is set by what another is willing to pay. But what another is willing to pay is determined by how much utility he will receive for his payment. The unending joys of myriads of souls will come in quite handy for the warmth of the Lord God’s everlasting smiles. The value is infinite, the price was finite. And again, you're so right.

Love you all,
Steve Corey

Betty said...

Taking time to read through these last several blogs. Especially like the August 30 one although all of them make good points. And your picture is really neat. I'm smiling back at you. Betty