“You Aren’t Cheap”
A while ago my grandfather gave me a guitar. It didn’t seem like much. He told me he bought it as a young man and that he had been the only owner, and for that reason alone, to me it was priceless. For years I would care for it, take it out and pluck around on it, attempting to teach myself how to play, but I would always treat it gently, wipe off all the fingerprints and oils from the strings and fretboard… I mean, I loved this thing simply because of whose it was.
Not too many years after receiving it my cousin found out grandpa had given it to me and he, appropriately, was upset. He asked if I would drop it off at his place sometime and let him play it while I was out of town and that he would return it when I had made it home. The day came. I stopped by the house to pick it up and as I walked to my car he said: “I dropped it”. I opened the case and felt sick. This perfect guitar I had been taking such good care of, its perfect candy-coated body now had been ruined, unrepairable.
I’m sure some of you are thinking, “Why would you give something you cared so much about to someone else to hold?” That’s a great question. I thought it would be safe. The truth is we often make this same mistake with many other things in our life.
I’ve seen so many people, especially young people, give up their prized possession, their purity, thinking that the person they are giving it to will treat it with respect, love, gentleness, and kindness, only to be used, broken hearted, and defeated. Y’all, God knew these things would happen, in fact, he built us with a desire for one another, but He was smart enough to warn us, and then give us a place where we can truly give ourselves to one another, without fear or punishment, in marriage.
Your body is of such great value. First of all, it is the Temple of God (Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians6:19&20) for those who have put on Christ! Secondly, you are so valuable, that once you have traded your purity out of “love” or fear, or peer pressure, you have traded the only true thing you have to offer your spouse when you are married. Luckily, we are able to have our sins washed away, but the scars will forever be with us. Do not let anyone devalue you by promising to take care of or love you if they truly do, they’ll wait for you till God joins you together. Read 1 Corinthians 6:12-20.
You are more valuable than you seem. As it turns out, a few years ago I had the guitar appraised. It was one of only a small number made by Gibson in 1959. Had I not trusted it in someone else’s hand, I could buy myself a new car with it… Ahren 