As of recently I have been training for a marathon. Just to clear up confusion, all marathons are 26.2 miles. I know some people think any running race is a marathon, but that’s not the case. Anyway, I am up to 15 miles on my training. I typically run on a high school track. It sometimes becomes difficult to remember which mile or even lap I am on. In order to keep track (no pun intended), I carry pennies that equal the number of miles I will run for that day. Today there was a table next to the track, so I put my pennies on the table as I completed a mile. As I went farther and farther I began to get tired tired (as most overweight bodies do). Around mile eleven I was ready to quit. At mile 13, I thought I was going to throw up. This was a reasonably difficult run for me (I am 20 lbs. overweight of pure tubbiness and I am not just saying that even though I am in great shape. I am not in great shape, I am the captain of the U.S.S. Fat). Finally, I get to mile 15 and I am ready to be done. I victoriously pass the table and put the final penny onto it as I pass by with excitement. Finally, I am finished with my 15 miler.
I walked around to catch my breath and to loosen up my weary legs. After doing so, I started making my way back to the table grab my stuff. As I picked up the pennies I counted them with pride. Then I noticed something horrible. I only counted 14 pennies. I started looking around to find the 15th penny, but to no avail. I searched the ground, the table, the track, everything. I could not find this penny. I thought to myself “what if I only ran 14 miles? That would mean I am not done and still have another mile to go. I don’t think I can do another mile now”Frantically, I began to search even harder. I desperately wanted to find that penny. I didn’t want to find it because it was worth a lot and I needed it. I wanted it because it represented a lot of time and effort. It had value because I worked hard so I could put that penny on the table (I know it sounds dumb, but stay with me). The crazy part is that when I found the penny, I was so excited. I was happy to find that one measly penny.
Then I began to think of the parable of the lost penny (Luke 15:8-10). In that parable, the woman goes to great lengths to find the penny she had lost. Once she found it she threw a party. She was excited that she found that penny. The woman is representative of God. He desperately seeks us just like me and the old lady had sought our penny. Once we repent or He has found us, He rejoices. He does so, not because we are valuable in and of ourselves or because He needs us. He sought us because of the value He has placed in us. We represent His hard work. We are merely made of dust and worth nothing as we are without God. However, because God places value in us, we are worth a more than we know. We represent His work on the cross and a relationship that He wants to have with humanity. He did not start His work in us in vain. “For you are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works that God prepared beforehand for us to do” 1 Corinthians 2:10. “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ” Philippians 1:6.
Posted by Jim Shultz at November 19, 2002 10:58 PM
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