Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Silver and Gold

1 Peter 1:18-21, "For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver of gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God."

The Holy Spirit of God placed this divine passage upon my heart this afternoon. I believe that it was divinely placed there for my own benefit, but also for the benefit of others, that together we might be reminded to keep our eyes on Jesus this time of year. This seems almost incredulous. How can I not be reminded that Christmas is a time to remember the Christ. And yet year after year I am reminded that the Church herself falls prey to worldly indebtedness and bondage through  material pursuits. "Blessed is the one who gives" the Scriptures tell us...unless there is no reciprocation. 

I must admit that this temptation is getting easier to avoid the older I get. There isn't much that I need or want, at least anything that I cannot go out and buy for myself if the finances are present. I am less content with the stuff and seeking that which has a greater value to me. 


When I was a kid one of my favorite Christmas programs was Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. And one of my favorite songs was by folk-singer, Burl Ives, "Silver and Gold." 




Silver and gold
Silver and gold
Ev'ryone wishes
For silver and gold
How do you measure
It's worth?
Just by the pleasure it
Gives here on Earth
Silver and gold
Silver and gold
Mean so much more
When I see
Silver
And gold decorations
On ev'ry Christmas tree

Silver and gold
Silver and gold
Wise men brought gifts
To the mange I'm told
Mary was humble to see
Shepherds and kings
There on bended knees
It's silver and gold
Silver and gold
Feeling the world
With their lives
Silver and gold
How they shimmer
On ev'ry Christmas night
On ev'ry Christmas night

In this season of Advent (Coming) I am reminded that silver and gold have no value in themselves. It is only the value that is placed on them by humanity - either through their greed, their need, or their worship. 

Because they are precious metals, humanity, in their greed seeks to acquire them for the ease of life they will produce and for the power that they convey. 

Because they are valued metals they are useful in all kinds of instruments and equipment. They are being used to make our lives better and at times more pleasing. 

But because of the first two they should be put in their proper position at the feet of the dear Savior. For silver and gold could not buy us the pardon we seek. Silver and gold could not assuage the wrath of a Holy God for he created the very glittering veins in the earth. Anything of such value should be placed in its proper perspective; they are simply gifts of worship to lay before the King and Creator. 

I am reminded that their is something more precious, more powerful than any glittering stone found in this universe:  the blood of Jesus. It is that crimson flood that covers my sin. It is the staining fluid of life that in some miraculous way makes me white as the winter snow. 

As we are reminded this time of year of our dear Savior's first coming may we be acutely aware of his second. Not only was his birth preordained before the creation of the world but also his return. Will I be caught up in a world full of glittering silver and gold or will it simply remind me of the preciousness of my Lord?



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