In Mark 12: 13-17, Jesus asked for a coin, looked at it and said “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
I never really thought much about that verse, other than “well, I pay taxes, so I’m cool.” Until I started reading Lee Strobel’s book “God’s Outrageous Claims.” He discusses this verse and the revelation he had about it:
“When I read this, a lightbulb flashed through my head. Jesus was telling them that the coin was imprinted with the image of the emperor, so at tax time they should go ahead and give it to him. Ultimately it’s his. But the clear implication is this: we are engraved with the likeness of our Creator, and therefore we ultimately belong to Him. We matter to God because his very image is etched into our souls!” (pg. 30)
Wow! Think about the coins in your pocket or purse for a second. Some of them are shiny and new, and have some worth. Some of them are rather tarnished, but they also have the same worth. Some of them are nicked, scratched, and pretty much abused - some have even been run over by a truck! But they still have the same worth.
That’s how God sees us. God has stamped His image into us, and that’s what he sees when he looks at us - through the dirt and tarnish, through the scratches, nicks, and dents, through the mangling of sin in our lives - we are worth just as much to God as if we were shiny and new.
Now, that has a couple of implications:
- I matter to God no matter what. He took the initiative to stamp me with His likeness, so he obviously cares about me.
- I have value to God. God looks at me and sees worth, even if I goof up. If a quarter of mine falls into the mud, I don’t think “aww, it’s not worth anything now.” Instead, I think, “awww, my quarter got dirty, but it’s still a quarter.” God thinks the same way about us.
- He might want to spend some of that change in his pocket… He might use the shiny quarter, but he just as easily might choose that nicked, tarnished, scratched-up quarter - it achieves the same purpose to God.
