Don’t under-value your most precious possession

The most expensive car in the world is the Bugatti Veyron Super Sports. It starts at $1.7 million, and with all of the bells and whistles can cost as much as $2.7 million. Its greatest boast is that it can go from 0 to 60 mph in 2.5 seconds and can reach a maximum speed of 253 mph. Most of us would not even dream of ever owning a car of this caliber.

But imagine, if you will, that someone gave you a Bugatti (just bear with me, please, no matter how unlikely this scenario may be).

If any one of us owned a car like this, I am sure we would try to take very good care of it. We would want to keep it in a garage and be extremely careful if we ever took it out on the road. Due to its great value, we would treat it with great care.

If anything were to happen to this car, we would want to fix it, and no scratch — no matter how small — would be permitted to stain this treasure. We would not take it to just any Tom, Dick or Harry mechanic either. We certainly would not even think of trying to repair it ourselves. No, we would most likely take something of this value to be repaired by the manufacturer.

In addition to this, if for some reason we should loan our treasure out to anyone else, we would certainly hold them accountable should they get even the least scratch on it. We would be very reluctant to let anyone else have our car on loan in the first place, let alone give them total freedom to treat it as they would a vehicle that has no value at all.

The point of this article is not to talk about cars. In fact, I am not even what one would call a car enthusiast myself. I give you this scenario to illustrate man’s relationship to God. We are the Bugatti, and God is the manufacturer.

The Bible tells us in Genesis 1 that God created all things, including man. In fact, mankind is the pinnacle of God’s creation. We are the most precious treasure that he made. Of all of creation, God chose to make man in his own image and likeness, thus giving each of us inherent value. Because of our great value (in God’s eyes, yes, but it should also be in our own) any little damage is major. The damage to God’s creation came in the form of sin. What makes sin so horrible is that it damages one so valuable. We don’t really care if our old, run-down car gets a scratch or dent. But when something of great value becomes marred, it must be fixed. So when we do not see ourselves or our fellow man as being valuable, then sin doesn’t seem so bad. It can be overlooked, called by another name or attempted to be fixed in some haphazard manner.

But just as we would not take our Bugatti to a junkyard to replace the part or to just any mechanic, so we cannot fix the damage of sin however we may please. In the same way that we cannot fix the Bugatti on our own, neither can we fix our own sin. Only the one who made us — God — can fix us properly. Anything else is covering up the problem rather than truly repairing it.

As the manufacturer, God determines the best (and only) way to repair the damage of sin. He chose to remove our sin completely by the death of Jesus on the cross. Jesus paid the price for the damage caused by our sin. When we follow Christ as our Lord and Savior, he even removes any accountability we would have had before him for damaging his property. Our lives belong to him (1 Corinthians 6:19). While we might never place anything so valuable in the hands of one so incapable of taking care of it properly, God has allowed us to live our lives, which he created as we choose; but all along he still holds us accountable for how we handle and treat his property.

So let us draw this analogy to a close. God created man as the high watermark of his creation and gives each person value because we are created by him in his image. God then turns over the keys of his property to us. Sin damages and mars the treasure of God. We are accountable to God for the misuse of his creation. God chose to repair his vehicle to like-new condition by sending his one and only son, Jesus Christ, to suffer and die on the cross to remove our sins.

He paid the full price to repair the scratches, dents and broken pieces of our lives. It is my hope that this little story will help you to see yourself and others as objects of great value. I also pray that you will go to God to allow him to repair whatever may be broken in your life. You cannot fix yourself. So learn to trust him with your whole life and discover the joy of that “new car smell” that only Jesus can bring into our lives!

Kevin D. Newman is the pastor of Heritage Baptist Church in Wasilla and the Administrator for Cornerstone Christian School. Contact him at knewmanccs@gmail.com or 357-9798.

Opinions expressed on the Faith page are the author’s and are not necessarily those of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, its staff or its parent company, Wick Communications Co. To submit a column or other news for the Faith page, send email to news@frontiersman.com, or call 352-2268.