The Price of Love

I was thinking about Valentine’s Day the other day, and it made me start thinking about love, and what would be the best thing someone has ever given you for Valentine’s Day – or just any time really. I’m of the opinion that it’s more special for someone to buy you something on a day that has no special significance then to remember Valentine’s Day (not that I’d particularly want them to forget).

 But I’m getting off-topic.

 I was thinking, what would be the best thing you’ve ever been given? The thing that most makes you sure that someone loves you?

Chocolates and Roses get crossed off the list immediately. After all, they’re pretty generic (at least in Western Countries), and don’t need much thought.

Something special, something that has meaning, something specific – that would probably be pretty high up in the list, right?

Well, what’s the best thing I’ve ever been given? A nice card or meaningful letter? Something that was very expensive? Something I really wanted? Something handmade? Maybe if someone helped you to reconcile with an old friend or family member you’ve been apart from for a while?

And I realised that I’ve been given all of those things – and all by the same person.

 

I was given sunrises, and sunsets. I was given beaches, and forests and mountains. I was given blue skies and storms and sunlight. I was given my family and friends. I was given my job, and school. I was given life. I was given everything I have.

There’s a saying, ‘if I could give you the world’. Well, I was. Given the world, that is.

And all those things were given to me by the same person.

Something handmade?

- God handmade – or rather spoke and created – the entire earth. All for me. Every sunset, every sunrise, every stretch of coastline, every flower I’ve ever seen, are artworks He has created for me.

Something I really wanted?

- everything I have, absolutely everything, I have because God has given it to me. The Bible says that all good things come from God. (See James 1:17). So those things I’ve really wanted in life, that I have, my job, everything good that I have, was given to me by God.

A nice card or meaningfull letter?

- what better letter could I be given then one that has 66 sections? A love letter that describes just how much I am love, and just how I am seen by the One Who loves me? A letter that also tells me everything I need to know to live this life? And yes, I do mean the Bible.

Reconciling with an old friend or family member?

- if all good things come from God, then so does the family and friends that I love. But let’s go even further than that. Reconciliation. To make up with someone I’ve been estranged from? Yes, God has done that for me as well. Adopting me as His daughter and becoming my Father. Not only that, but offering such a gift even after I had become His enemy. Turned away.

But what about something expensive?

- What is expense? What is cost? How much is something worth? Isn’t the worth given to something by how much we are willing to pay for it? Things become priceless when we would accept no price for them. But is money the only cost? The only worth? We often talk about sentimental value. A worth that has nothing to do with money, and cannot be measured by it.

There’s another saying – that everyone has a price, you just have to find it. It’s often seen on tv or in movies, you know, like when the bad guy threatens someone the good guy loves – and declares that they’ve found their price. The price of a loved one.

So what’s the most expensive gift I was ever given?

- my Life. Eternity. Why? Because what could be more expensive than to have been paid in the blood of your only son?

To have God give me a gift that meant His Son had to die.

So when I think about things I’ve been given, things that show that I am love, I can’t help but think that, out of everyone I know, God has everyone else beat. After all, how can you compete with that above list?

(if anyone is reading this who doesn’t understand what I’m talking about, please, feel free to contact me and ask, I’d love to explain what I believe to you).