The Worth of a Penny

Yesterday, Dr. Walt pulled out a bunch of pennies to give out to the children during their time in the church service.  He’s done this before.  He takes an especially dull and worn coin and applies cleaning solution to it while speaking of the forgiveness of God. As he talks, the penny becomes clean and shiny, looking brand new. 

But this time, he had a different message.  He pointed out that some pennies were old, some were new, others were dirty, and others were shiny.  He said, “They may all look different, but they are each worth just as much as the others. Their value is the same.”

It’s a message we need even in this modern age where we still place differing values on persons based on race, income, looks, gender, etc. 

To add another twist, sometimes in our religion we focus on the sin, and we’ll designate a negative value on each other based on which sins are committed. We speak of ourselves as “miserable sinners,” and sing of how wretched we are, how undeserving of love, as if God is not very smart to care for us.  But in truth, even if we may not know why, God must think we are worth it.  Why else go to the trouble of redemption?

It’s important to see underneath the dullness and remember the shine is still there. Our value remains regardless of our sins and mistakes.