Bobby Bonner and Jeff Schneider's baseball card is worth $600, not because of their accomplishments in the world of professional baseball, but because of what someone else did. They get to share in the value of Cal Ripken, Jr.
We, too, share in the value of Another. Our worth is not found in ourselves, for we have none of any eternal significance. We may be good people and well-respected among our peers, and may even have a long list of accomplishments. And like Jeff Schneider and Bobby Bonner, we may have much potential.
Regardless of my own abilities, I’m quite sure that I could never play baseball as well as Schneider and Bonner – much less Ripken. I just couldn’t measure up. I couldn’t possibly measure up to the requirements of righteousness set by God. And neither could you. If we are to believe what God says about it, we have to turn to Isaiah 64:6, which reads, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”
However, our names are included in the Lamb’s Book of Life, not because of our accomplishments, but because of our identification with Jesus Christ. It’s called “grace,” and because of grace, we each have value and worth–the value and worth of Jesus Himself.
—Rocky Henriques, www.uticabc.com