Knowing Price of Everything & Value of Nothing

A playwright, poet, and author by the name of Oscar Wilde once said, "What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing."  There are different variations on this quote, but the key part of it is "__________ knows the price of everything and the value of nothing."  Today I want to fill in this blank with the phrase the church.

You may ask, how is it that you know the price of everything but do not know its value?  Aren't the two the same?  Well, no...they are not.   It is a marketing site, but KnowThis.com gives a good definition of the two.  It says that "value refers to the perception of benefits received for what someone must give up".  The price is "what someone gives up".  As people, we shop all the time and we pay the price for many things.  A lot of the times we tend to purchase items without even thinking the benefit to us.  Most of the time, we go off of emotions or because it has been marketed to you very well.  Besides, the purpose of marketing is to convince you that the product being up-sold is something that you need.

If you have ever stepped foot in a church, then you should at least have a clue that its goal is to market and sell Jesus Christ to you.  I don't mean to put it in such a light way, but it is essentially what is done.  You are told that Jesus is the best thing that can happen to you.  For someone who is saved, He is the best thing that HAS happened to you.  Why?  Well, it is because "....Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:3) and He paid a price he did not owe.  Christ was born into a sinful world, but He was not born into sin.  He did not have to pay the price for our sin, but He did!

The church understands this price, but I think a good majority of the people fall short of understanding the benefit and value other than a good Easter Sunday Morning service.  Our benefit is that we get to have eternal life (John 3:16) and we are free from the old Mosaic law.  We relate to things we can understand through our senses.  If we could imagine what eternal life with the Father in Heaven would be like, we would appreciate the true value of Jesus' death.  If we had lived under the old Mosaic Law, we would have a great appreciation for the freedom that we have because of His death and resurrection.  The good news is that the good news (the gospel) is there for our consumption.  The more we read His Word and understand it and become more closer to God, the more we will understand the value of His death.  Being a church attender on Sunday's doesn't make you know the true value - being animate about the Word does.

Be blessed gang and have a good one.

Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:   http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall

"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." - 2 Samuel 22:33