Do we know the value of anything?

Every day we're reading or listening to part of the Bible together and sharing thoughts with you. Today it’s Bern Leckie:

What did I like about today’s passage?

In the middle of this section of many details about the values of things, I’m struck by the single biggest choice God gives his people – obey him as Lord, or not.

I love the rich details in the promise to those who obey. I’m not so much loving the idea of terror for disobedience, but I do notice that God resolves not to give up on people. This section is long, partly because of all the chances people have to return to God. We needed them and, looking back, it seems that God did not forget his covenant promises. He sent a saviour and finished the work this law was designed to start.

I’m also intrigued by the listed values of things and people, however. Do they mean that God values men more than women? I don’t think so, any more than God values a field more for producing more years of crops. These are our concerns, not his. I’m going to suggest that God was regulating behaviour here based on human values at the time, not the value that God places on people and things. We are probably still yet to learn the full extent of that.

But we get a clue from the remarkable festival of Jubilee. In one sense, it’s a social regulator preventing God’s people from taking too much from each other. It is also a reminder of something which can transform the way we value everything – it all, ultimately, comes from and belongs to God. Our trading of stuff looks completely different when we remember it’s not our stuff. Our valuations of stuff are then much less important than God’s valuation of us. A few coins don’t reflect God’s value of any of us, male or female, young or old.

What did it show me about Father God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?

God knows how obsessed we get over possessions and having to put prices on stuff. He also wants to remind us not to build our lives on the accumulation of things. It seems remarkable to have a system which recognises God’s ownership of everything, as it’s very different from our economy, but Jesus would continue to challenge people about money and possessions. God cares about how we see these things because he cares about us.

What am I going to do differently as a result?

I fall into the trap of thinking that my value is somehow linked to the value of my stuff. This makes things hard to give away and put to better use sometimes. It’s been too long since I’ve had a proper review of what stuff I’m holding onto when it could be better given away, so I should do this soon.

Who am I going to share this with?

My wife – we have thought about this together before, but it’s been a while!