Glory Seed Devotional’s, 2017: Anticipating and Experiencing Jehovah-Jireh...
Looking back...
Shalom!
Occasionally I look back over previous years this morning looking back on 2011 I found “Stooping for a Penny” and thought it worthwhile to repost.
Stooping for a Penny
“Jesus sat down near the collection box in the Temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts. Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins. Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions. For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.”” (Mark 12:41–44, NLT)
“What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.” (Matthew 10:29–31, NLT)
The other day while on my morning bike ride I was on my way home and riding through the parking lot of the Birchwood Mall I glanced at the ground and saw a nickel quickly turning around I went back to retrieve it. However, when I stopped at the spot where it was at I saw instead of a nickel a penny, “You don’t usually bend over for a penny,” I said to myself. (If you have or know someone with artificial hips you’ll know bending over to the ground is a no-no.) But I ignored the warnings going off in my head stooped over and picked it up. Almost instantly it wasn’t a penny it was a life, my life.
By worldly standards a nickel is not as valuable as a dime, a quarter, or a dollar but it is more valuable than a penny therefore a penny will not buy as much as a nickel will buy (actually in today’s world you can’t buy anything for a nickel or a penny). Over the years there have been many times when I’ve compared myself to others and come away thinking myself a penny. “You’re not as valuable as so and so I’d tell myself,” which would strengthen my penny status.
Yet when I took a big risk bent over and picked up that weather tarnished and scratch blemished penny in my imagination I saw Jesus reaching down from his cross and picking me up. Jesus picks up pennies! When Jesus looks at OUR lives he doesn’t see dollars, quarters, dimes, or nickels he sees pennies, weather tarnished scratch blemished pennies! And just as important as we give our “penny status lives” to him he raises us to priceless-ness! If you think a penny is next to being worthless then think about how Jesus felt about pennies!
“May God be merciful and bless us. May his face smile with favor on us.” **
Grace and PEACE,
Gary
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“Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.”
**Psalm 67:1, New Living Translation
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