Trade In Value

 

We drive old cars.  No, I mean old—not vintage, not antique, not retro.  There is no moniker of dignity you can put on the age of our automobiles.  Case in point, the morning I approached the garage to go to work only to notice that both our vehicles had been “broken into”.  I say that tongue in cheek, since one of the cars we dared not lock anymore, or it might be locked forever.  I giggled all the way to work, since there was really nothing of value to take and the would-be burglars wasted precious time.

But they are paid for, they run (usually) and somehow they keep passing the requisite vehicle inspection prior to getting new tags.  Go figure.

So when the time does come to get a “new car” (also tongue in cheek), and the dealer asks the normative question of “do you have a trade in?”, I suppose the correct response would be “that depends on your definition.”  (Are they allowed to charge me just to take it off my hands??)

The bartering system—goods for services—or even our present economic cash-flow somehow just doesn’t work in the spiritual environment, however.  Here’s an example of how some of our decisions look from a Heavenly vantage point:

“They traded their glorious God for a statue of a grass-eating bull.”

That pretty well sums up our culture.  Anytime I choose to put anything above faithfulness to God, I’m trading down to a far less quality situation.  Especially in light of the fact that God seemed to think I was worth trading up for in swapping His Son for my rightful place on the cross.  I give Him my sorrows: He gives me His joy.  I give Him my mistakes; He gives me redemptive grace.  I give Him my confusion; He gives me patience.

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” 

Meaning that when I finally discard this life for another, I can trust that His trade in value is infinitely higher.  

Ps. 106:20; John 3:16  Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.