Why don’t they forge $3 bills?

Silly question really, but a friend once told me that a neighbour had invited his wife to church, and she said “Thank you, but I don’t really want to go.” The neighbour got mad and now won’t speak to my friend’s wife. And while trying not to be offended for my friend, I have to say that this is not what I would call authentic Christianity. Or to put it another way the Pharisee is alive and well (well alive anyway) and living on planet earth.

But to come to my question, there are two reasons. The first is that you don’t try to counterfeit something that is not real. Some would say that the existence of the counterfeit points to the existence of something genuine behind it. Jesus said “I am the true vine” (John 15:1), and we are invited to “Taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). I became desperate enough taste, and I found Him to be the genuine article!

The second reason that they don’t forge $3 bills is that there is little point in forging something with so little value. Only something worth forging is worth forging! Duh! But like pearls before swine, even that which is valuable can be treated as being without value. To the unbeliever Jesus is the stone that the builders rejected, but to we who believe He is precious, and He is the chief corner stone (1 Peter 2:7; 1 Corinthians 3:11). And there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).

Lord, as the songwriter wrote, You are more precious than silver, more costly than gold. It must grieve you Lord that there are so many that name Your name who bring You dishonour. But there are those who are genuine, there are! Lord please give me what I need to be one of them. In Your precious Name Amen