Baseball cards

I remember the first time I came across a baseball trading card. Actually, it was a football card. I got a stack of them as part of a game I received around the age of 10. I didn't know then that people actually collected the cards and traded them but I tucked them away in a drawer along with a few "old" baseball cards my brother-in-law shared with me.

As the years passed, I would collect one or two here and there for different reasons. I even began to hear stories about how people would pay big money for certain cards. I paid no attention. I believed my cards to be of little value--just pieces of cardboard with pictures.

Then, in my early 20s, a friend of mine at school enlightened me a little bit more. He was an avid collector and allowed me into his private stock--a closet filled with thousands of football, baseball and basketball cards. He began to tell me about how he had gathered his collection. I was floored, especially when he pulled out a box with a lock that was full of "special" cards. One by one he would pull a card and say, "This one is worth $125. This one just sold recently at auction for about $890. This one is only about $75." I could not believe my ears. You can imagine my surprise when he pulled out a particular card that I recognized from my personal collection. "I have a friend who just sold this card for a little over $1200...but his was in really mint condition."

My dad used to say, "If you want to know if something is valuable, just ask someone how much they'll pay you for it. If they won't pay, it isn't worth much."

That card sold because someone was willing to pay the price. Although it was in mint condition, it was still just a piece of cardboard with a picture on it.

You won't to know how much you're worth? Look how much God was willing to pay for you. When it came time, He didn't offer a paltry sum or even a mildly extravagant fee...He gave the ultimate price, His son.

Here's the really good news. You don't have to be in mint condition. Truthfully, none of us are...nor can we ever be without Him. Here's what's really important. Neither you nor I have the grounds to question how much we mean to God. We are neither insignificant nor worthless. We are His most prized position, worth whatever it cost Him to secure our salvation. And the best part of it all...once bought we can never be traded.