1 Peter 1:18
For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or 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.
The most valuable metal on earth is gold. The current price of gold is running right about $1600 an ounce. And while there are many other precious metals, including rhodium, platinum, ruthenium and iridium (don’t ask me about them, I only saw them on a list on the internet), it is silver, which trades at about $30 an ounce today, that has typically joined gold as the most common forms of human currency throughout history.
And since the very dawn of civilization, human beings have searched for, traded, worshiped and started wars over both gold and silver. Gold and silver, historically speaking, have been the standard and measurement of wealth. The ancient Egyptians forged gold coffins in which to inter their dead. The Bible tells us that King Solomon was so wealthy that his household articles, place settings and goblets, were made of pure gold.
Today, many people invest in gold as a hedge against unstable economic conditions. Even if we don’t invest in precious metals, we continue to shape both silver and gold into rings, necklaces, watches and all kinds of other items. Someone has actually made a gold plated vacuum cleaner that sells for $1,000,000. If you are married, you wear a gold wedding band. Many of you reading this are wearing a cross shaped of gold around your neck.
Gold and silver are valuable and can be used to purchase many things, but the Bible reminds us that all the gold in the world cannot buy what we need most!
For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or 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.
There’s an old joke about a rich Texas oil man who told his wife that, upon his death, he wanted to be buried in his gold Cadillac. Sure enough, when the man died, his wife bought two burial plots side by side and hired a crane to lower the gold Cadillac, her deceased husband inside, down into his resting place. As the car dropped into the enormous burial vault, one onlooker was overheard to whisper gently to himself, “Whooeee, now that’s livin’!”
That story, goofy as it is, makes me smile because the irony is obvious. We all know that when that day comes, all the gold and silver and Cadillacs we have accumulated throughout our lives will be of absolutely no value. The only thing that will matter is the eternal destiny of our souls.
And that destiny cannot be purchased with gold or silver, but only with blood.
Brian Coffey
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