Saint Louis, Missouri, United States - Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries "Unimaginable Riches" Tuesday, 1 April 2014

Saint Louis, Missouri, United States - Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries "Unimaginable Riches" Tuesday, 1 April 2014
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you by His poverty might become rich.--2 Corinthians 8:9
The scrap metal dealer came across an interesting bauble at a junk market. It was a three-inch high golden egg, an egg with a watch inside. 
With the hope of selling the diamond watch and the golden egg at a profit he bought the trinket for about $14,000. Sadly, the people to whom he tried to sell it said, "We aren't ready to pay you that much. It's not worth it. You're stuck with the thing."
And stuck he was.
Hoping to get proof the critical buyers were wrong, the man searched the Internet for direction. After a while he began to think the egg he had purchased was the one which had been given by Tsar Alexander III to his wife as an Easter present in 1887.
Of course, the odds against his egg being that egg were astronomical. The egg had last been seen in Russia in 1922. After that, it had disappeared from sight. Nobody would expect such a treasure to end up in a junk pile. Still, what did he have to lose by asking a few questions? Fueled by hope, the scrap metal man took pictures of his egg to London for verification.
To his surprise, it was verified -- 100 percent-verified -- and eventually sold for an undisclosed amount. (In 1997, a Faberge egg, a non-imperial Faberge egg, was sold for $18.5 million. This egg would have been sold for much, much more.)
And what does all this have to do with a Christian devotion?
Merely this: with the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, the world has been given a wonderful Easter present. Far more precious than any Faberge egg, our gift is one which forgives us all our sin and offers us eternal life. Sadly, as is the case for the junkman's egg,
* there are those who have seen the Jesus story but don't believe it;
* there are those who have heard about this story, but think it foolishness and nonsensical;
* there are those who refuse to accept its value and lose the blessings which it gives.
Of course, there are also people like you. By the power of the Holy Spirit you have heard the story of salvation, which God's Son has won for you at such a great cost. Just as importantly, you recognize its importance, significance and value. For you, the knowledge of being saved is far greater than finding an art treasure in a junk pile.
For you the story of the Savior's sacrifice is everything.
Now it is our privilege to give the world the good news which says, "You can have such a gift, too." Jesus has lived, suffered, died and risen so you might have the gift of eternal life.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, because of Jesus I have been given riches beyond anything this world can imagine. Grant that I may do all I can so others might be just as rich in Jesus. In His Name. Amen. 
In Christ I remain His servant and yours, 
Pastor Ken Klaus 
Speaker emeritus of The Lutheran Hour® 
Lutheran Hour Ministries
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Lutheran Hour Ministries
660 Mason Ridge Center
St. Louis, MO 63141 United States
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