January 13, 2024

Back in the mid-1990s, a woman who was a toy enthusiast from Rhode Island found an old doll in a garbage heap. It was a creepy old thing, like something you’d see in a horror movie. But she found it fascinating and took it home. In 2014, after the woman had passed away, her widowed husband was going through her things and found it. Because it looked old, he decided to take it to some appraisers who could tell him if it was worth anything. To his amazement, he discovered the doll was actually a hand-painted cloth doll made around 1860 by notable Rhode Island toy maker Izannah Walker. The doll sold at auction for $14,200.
“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” I’m sure you’ve heard that quote before. That is never truer than when it comes to the value that God puts on us. That’s what this lost parable is about. A woman, who represents God in the story, loses a silver coin. Though she has other coins, that coin is important to her. That coin could be a part of her dowry to secure a future husband. That coin could be a part of a savings that she was going to use to purchase a piece of property. That coin might be an essential part of a trip she wanted to take, possessions she needed to buy, or even part of paying off a debt that would save her from losing her home. It’s only one silver coin. But it is precious to her.
And that’s YOU when it comes to God. To Him, you are not just one person among many people. You are special. You are unique. You are precious. God has attached infinite worth to you. It doesn’t matter what others think. It doesn’t matter even what you think of yourself. It doesn’t matter where you’ve been or what you’ve been through. That silver coin had even more worth when it was pulled from the dirty corner it was found in than it did when it was safe, clean, and shiny. Because now that coin had the added value of being SOUGHT AFTER, FOUND, and REJOICED OVER. And so do YOU! You may feel today like a thrown-away doll on a heap of garbage. But you’re not. You’re a precious, expensive, hand-crafted child of the Living God. You, my friend, are PRICELESS! That’s God’s Word for you today.