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'Christ in You...'
by Dale Krebbs
What is money...more importantly, what is it made for?
It is a creation of man. It has become universally used by man replacing the barter system which was cumbersome and became inefficient. Money has been defined as a "medium of exchange", a type of go-between, a middle mechanism to facilitate the transfer of something from one location to another, i.e. goods and services of the world, without having to actually move such goods and services before equivalent goods and services can be taken possession of. Such transfers are on the minds of many right now. Such concerns seem to dictate the value of life itself in many cases. In other words, money seems to be equal to life itself, and is given equal value as an exchange.
There is another kind of exchange medium that is much more universal and of much more value than the one we call money. It was not invented by anyone, and yet it has been used by everyone. It has been around longer than anyone. It is used and functions silently or quietly, without much fanfare usually; and yet it is universal, and has been used by God always, with one major change in the way it operates in the world. All of God’s activities involve in one way or another this exchange medium. Subsequently, all of man’s actions and activities of living and existing involve this "medium of exchange" also. When we understand this medium of exchange, we will better understand what God has always done, what He is doing, how He is doing it, and especially why He is doing it the way He is doing it! We will hopefully understand more of just how wise, glorious, and omnipresent God is!
Because of this in the mind of God, the world - and you and I - have hope!
In the Bible, in the book of Genesis, it is recorded that mankind finally became so incredibly wicked that God realized that - as we would describe it - they would all be better off dead (Genesis 6:5-7,11). It is interesting to note at this point that in the very next verse, God says that Noah "found grace (favor)" in God’s sight. God does not say that Noah was perfect, but that he "walked with God" (Genesis 7:5. God was already looking forward to the redemption of mankind. But God had said when observing the abject evil of mankind that His Spirit would not always "strive (abide)" with mankind. God had apparently been working with mankind directly for a long, long time. But there was a limit. There is always a line that man can cross. They had crossed it. However, in everything that God does in the way of chastisement or punishment in justice, He always leaves a ray of HOPE - that ray of hope was to center around Noah.
Here begins a new era. In some ways, God is beginning not only a new world after the subsequent flood that took the lives of all except Noah and his family, but a new regimen, a different way of working with man to finish his creation in God’s image.
After leaving the ark, God gave Noah authority over everything on earth, everything edible could be for food, except BLOOD (Genesis 9:3-4). The covenant of equal justice, blood for blood, was instituted. When mankind killed living things for food, he was not to eat the blood, because in it was the life of it. From this time on, God was making a most important statement for all mankind. Grace and forgiveness can never be received freely. Grace cannot, in the righteous of God, be free! IT WILL COST SOMETHING OR SOMEONE THEIR LIFE IN EXCHANGE! From that time forward, Noah and his family, and all of mankind since has been performing a type of the "passover", or type of the communion of the bread and the wine without seeing what God sees. When something that has the breath of life is killed for food, there is AN EXCHANGE being made. The blood that is shed is a "medium of exchange". When we partake of any type of meat as food SOMETHING HAD TO DIE, and shed its blood, so that WE COULD LIVE!
The sacrifice of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, has been being pictured BY ALL OF MANKIND EVER SINCE THE FLOOD. Most just have not realized it. Have you and I ever stopped to ponder the fact that something had to give its life and shed its blood in order for us to partake of its flesh? Perhaps you have - if you ever lived on a farm or ranch, or worked in a slaughterhouse, or done mean carving, etc.
The point is this. Ever since the flood mankind has been reminded that something must die in exchange for life. Low order sacrifices are offered almost every day of our lives. It is a constant reminder of the price of "the grace of life". Noah in type received life for himself and his family in exchange for a whole world of mankind. If he had not, you and I would not have our physical lives and breath of life as you read these words. The grace of life is never cheap. It always cost someone their life. As unpleasant as it is, think of all the conflicts and wars of mankind has ever fought. Someone was willing to die so someone could live. Simplification I know - but true.
Jesus Christ, the "Lamb of God" (John 1:29,36), the Son of that same God who was sorrowed over having created mankind, has pictured down through ages His justice (life for a life), and His grace made possible by the exchange of His life for all of mankind. We have all been bought back - we don’t have to die eternally anymore! (1 John 2:2)
What is money made for?..it is made to fail (Luke 16:9) If money is there, it can be made to serve for a while - but it will fail. If it isn’t there, it can be loved and served, instead of made to love and serve others. But when it fails for you (and it will fail...), you can be received into ETERNAL habitations. Mansions and riches of glory (John 14:1-2) can be inherited in exchange for "mammon"!
Jesus has exchanged His life for yours - it has been redeemed. His blood has been exchanged for yours. It has been bought back. But this much is required of you - you must give your life back to Him in living sacrifice (Romans 12:1-2). Then both of you will live. Jesus has become your "medium of exchange".
Eternal death is too high of a price to pay for money. Will you accept His price He has paid for you..? (Matthew 16:25-26)
"So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever." - John 6:53-58
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