The Price Of Everything
Henry is a former biophysicist, working part-time assessing the quality of higher education teaching
Romans 8:1 (NRSV) —
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
Did you watch the coronation last May? So much colour, so much pageantry and great music… you can even download the 50-page (!) Order of Service, with seven pages listing the procession at the beginning. How could I have missed the thrill of picking out the Falkland Pursuivant Extraordinary, the Lady Usher of the Black Rod, and the Groom of the Robes? So much silk and ermine, so much gold and silver, so many precious stones, so much…
And amidst all this wealth and finery, the King was handed a copy of the Bible with these words: ‘We present you with this Book, the most valuable thing that this world affords.’
The Bible is valuable. It introduces people to Jesus, and Jesus sets us free. A prisoner was given a Bible, and wrote about the difference it had made to him: 'The Bible shows me that every saint has a past and every sinner has a future'.
Whatever our story and whatever our past, God wants us to experience that future and that freedom. So he’s building in us the character of Jesus – the one person who walked this earth totally free!
You can go into a bookshop and ask the price of a Bible, but that’s no measure of its real value. (That’s not a new idea – Oscar Wilde said 'Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing'*) The true value of the Bible is that it tells us about Jesus, and the message of Jesus is a message of many freedoms – above all, that freedom from “the law of sin and death”.
Do I value the Bible as truly it should be valued? If we really value the Bible as we should, let’s prove it – by opening it today!
Prayer - Lord, please open me to your word, and open your word to me, today.
*(the Picture of Dorian Gray)