The Saucer
San Francisco is home to hundreds of little stores that sell both worthless junk and valuable antiques. Savvy shoppers can find some real treasures among all the debris.
One day an antique connoisseur walked into one of these stores. Browsing the items for sale, he came across an unremarkable cat Drinking milk from a saucer on the floor. The man immediately recognized this saucer as genuine Ming Dynasty, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. And here it was on the floor, with a cat drinking milk out of it! The shop owner obviously did not know its worth.
Immediately, the man started scheming how to get it for cheap, without the shopkeeper knowing what he was selling. He turned to the shopkeeper and said, "You know, that's a very striking cat you have there. I'd really like to buy your cat."
"Well," answered the shopkeeper, "the cat is not really for sale."
"I insist," the man replied. "Would you take $100 for the cat?"
"That's very generous," said the shopkeeper with a shake of his head.
"I don't think this cat is worth $100, but if you want the cat that badly, you can have it."
The man paid for the cat and then, as if he'd just thought of it, said, "Oh, one more thing. I'm going to need
something to use as a feeding dish for the cat, so I'll give you another $5 for that little saucer there on the
floor."
"Oh, I could never do that," said the shopkeeper. "You see, that's no ordinary saucer. That's a piece of rare
china from the Ming Dynasty and its worth is incalculable. But amazingly enough, ever since I started feeding
my cats out of it, I've sold 12 cats."
That shopkeeper degraded something of great value to upgrade the worth of his cats. God also used something
of great value to redeem us and to give us life--Christ, who was degraded on the cross so that we could be
upgraded to eternal life. As a result, we have become priceless treasures.
On the other hand, customers who didn't know any better walked by the cat's milk dish without realizing that they were walking past a treasure. Next time you walk past what look like ordinary persons, don't be fooled. They're treasures--people God loves so much that he sacrificed his Son on their behalf.
