Value Where There Is None
March 23, 2022 (UPI) -- Auction house Sotheby's said it expects to fetch up to $551,000 for an unusual item -- a receipt for a piece of invisible art by French artist Yves Klein.
According to Stoheby’s, “Klein sold numerous pieces of imaginary art, which he dubbed Zones of Immaterial Pictorial Sensibility, in exchange for a weight of pure gold, and he would issue receipts to the buyers."
Oddly enough, Klein (1928-1962) was considered a master of the artistic genre Nouveau Réalisme – New Realism. Yet there is simply nothing “real” about this.
The receipt in question was for a sale of a piece of imaginary art dated December 7, 1959. The receipt will go on auction April 6, 2022, and is expected to fetch the unimaginable price of over a half a million dollars.
Not everything “real” is visible or tangible. Take your soul, for example. It’s not visible or tangible. It can’t be weighed or measured or photographed. But it is, in a true sense, the most real thing about you. And that soul has immeasurable value.
Your soul – YOU – were worth the cost of the life of the Son of God, that you might enter into eternal relationship with God. Yet we don’t see the value, the worth in investing in that relationship.
While some would rather spend their resources on imaginary works of art, spend your time and energy exploring your own worth and destiny.
You were bought at a price! Own it!
“For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:20, NKJV).
"For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?" (Mark 8:36, ESV).
The Value of a Bottle of Water
Currently, a bottle of water in a Costco vending machine costs about $0.25.
The same bottle in an average supermarket costs between $0.50 and $1.00.
If ordered at a bar it may cost around $2.00-$4.00.
In a restaurant or hotel, it can cost up to $3.00, $4.00, or more.
At an airport, amusement park, or theater, you may be charged $5.00-$6.00.
The bottles and the contents are all roughly the same. The only thing different is the location where you purchase them. In Costco, you’re expecting a discount, and you get one. In a grocery store, you expect you’ll pay a fair retail fee. From there, depending on the location, you expect a certain amount of mark-up, adjusted for ambiance, necessity, or convenience, with each location dictating the “value’ of the same product.
Have you ever felt your own value fluctuate depending on where are? Dining at a celebrity gala might give you a “sense” of having a greater value than if you were dining at a fast-food restaurant or asking for a handout at a soup kitchen.
Attending an Ivy League school might give you a greater “sense” of value than attending a community college, or no college at all. Fellowshipping with dear friends or treasured loved ones may leave you feeling more valued than mingling amongst a group of mere acquaintances or strangers.
Always remember that your true value is ascribed to you, not by your circumstances, but by your Creator. No matter where you are or who you're with, you are worth the life and death of the very Son of God. Your value is immeasurable; as infinite and eternal as the value of the Savior Himself.
That being so, don't allow anyone to detract from the value which God Himself has placed on you. You were created in the image of God, and in Christ, you are a child of the Living God and a joint-heir with Jesus. The eternal Kingdom of God is yours along with all of its benefits.
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Gen 1:27 (ESV)
“[A]nd if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ …” Rom 8:17a (NKJV)
Even Mutilated Money Retains Its Value
Many a bill ends up severally damaged: nibbled on by insects, covered by mold, torn, subjected to smoke or fire, or any other many possible horrors. But, all legal US currency, no matter how badly misused or abused, retains its value. If only damaged, the bills can be taken to any bank and exchanged. If mutilated and you yet have over fifty percent of the original bill and if at least some of its security features remain, it can be mailed to the US Bureau of Engraving & Printing in Washington DC for replacement.
God created all human beings in His image for His pleasure and purpose. When humanity fell into sin we did not lose our value in the sight of God, no more than a $100 bill that has been dragged through the mud loses its value as legal US currency. Salvation is the restoration of our intrinsic created value through reconciliation with God, our Creator. This great value is proven through the price paid for our redemption, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
"Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. (1 Peter 1:18,19, NKJV)