Student Leaders

by Pastor Don Nagy

I have a watch that was given to me by my grandfather when he passed away. It was the watch that he wore all of the time. Whenever I look at it, I can picture it on his wrist.

The watch is unique because it doesn’t use batteries and it never needs to be wound. It is called a ‘self-winding’ watch. When you wear it, the natural motions of your hands wind the watch.

The problem is this…I never wear a watch. So, the one time a year that I may want to wear it, it won’t work. It hasn’t been wound for a long time, and so it can’t keep the time.

On top of that, one of the clasps on the watch is broken, so it doesn’t really stay on my wrist very well. The glass cover is all scratched and the gold is wearing off.

I went on-line to see how much the watch is worth. Surprise! It is not worth anything. So, if someone offered me $500 for it, do you think I’d take it? NO! Why? Because of whose it was. That is what gives it value. It has great value because of its owner.

I also have an autographed baseball that he gave me. Autographed by the 1953 NY Yankees. Wanna know how much that is worth? A lot! But I can’t tell you exactly how much it is worth because it really just depends on how much someone is willing to pay for it.

So, what have we learned about the value of something from my grandpa? Two things. We have learned that the value of something is determined by how much someone is willing to pay for it, and that the value of something is determined not by how well it works, but who its owner is.

So, what does this say about YOUR value? How much are you worth?

Well, how much was God willing to pay for you? Peter says (I Peter 1:18-19) that you were not bought with perishable things like gold and silver, but with the precious blood of Christ. If God bought you back, not with ‘cheap’ stuff like gold and silver, but with the precious blood of His Son, what does that say about your value?

And because you are now His, you have tremendous value! Like my grandpa’s watch, your value is not based on how well you work, or how you look, or how well you function...how high your grades are, or how successful you are on the field or court, or how proficient you are at a particular task. You are valuable because of whose you are!

You may feel like my grandpa’s watch…scratched, broken, and not always working right. But that is not where your value is found. It is found in WHOSE you are and in WHAT God was willing to pay for you. And if that is the case, you never have to wonder about your value again!