Things are not always what they appear to be. Sometimes they exceed our highest expectations.
Karl Kissner was going through his late grandfather’s attic. He was finding a lot of junk. He found a cardboard box of baseball cards, which he thought was more junk. After all, the Defiance, Ohio, house was stuffed with a hundred years worth of clutter.
Kissner took the cards to an expert and learned that they were among the rarest ever discovered. The box contained a long-lost series issued about 1910. The cards were in pristine condition. There were cards there from Hall of Famers Ty Cobb, Cy Young, and Honus Wagner.
What Karl thought was of no value, he discovered that the 700-card collection would go for over $3 million when sold at auction.
Things are not always what they appear to be.
Beth Feeback of Concord, NC was visiting a thrift store and purchased an abstract painting for $9.99. When someone saw the painting and urged her to have it valued, the painting turned out to be Vertical Diamond by Ilya Bolotowsky. It has been valued at $20,000.
Things are not always what they appear to be.
What oftentimes appears to be valuable is not. What sometimes appears to be commonplace has tremendous value.
People can be very deceiving. It is easy to judge someone and think that they are not of much value. All of a sudden God reminds each of us that there is incredible value in every person that He has created. Employers, coaches, neighbors, friends, churches – all find this to be true.
Whenever you find yourself doing what you think is insignificant, ask yourself how valuable this is in the sight of God. His perspective is always different.
One day God was looking for a king. He sent Samuel to Jesse to check out his sons and select a king. When Samuel saw Eliab, he was sure this was the future king. But God said no because “man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.” (I Samuel 16:7) None of the sons passed the test. When Samuel asked if there were anymore sons, Jesse said one more who was tending the sheep. God picked the last son, David, and anointed him king.
What everybody else thought was just another boy, God saw unbelievable value and potential. David fooled everybody – except God!
What does God see in you – in me – and in all the people we meet? What does He see in the things He gives us to handle each day?
People and things oftentimes are far more valuable than they first appear to be.
