Earnest Money

I know I have some black socks in here somewhere, I thought as I tumbled through a bottom bureau drawer. But what's this? I wondered, as my eyes fell upon a small leather pouch in the bottom of the drawer. Then I recognized it as a bag of coins we had misplaced while moving! Howard had thought they were lost, along with some more valuable coins in a collection, and had been quite perturbed about it awhile back.

"Look what I found!" I relished saying as I held them out to him. His eyes grew round with surprise. I went to close the drawer, and another surprising sight met my eyes--the box he had described to me as holding his coin collection! This would really make his day! And I was right! He was both happy and conscience-stricken about his outburst when he thought they were missing.

A few minutes later, I was straightening the living room and refolding a scattered newspaper when a full-page announcement of a coin-collectors/evaluation event the next day caught my eye. What a coincidence (no pun intended)! Maybe he could find out what his coins were worth.

Meanwhile, we decided to take the bag of loose change to a coin-counting machine at a local supermarket. We were studying the screen displays to see how it worked when a young man approached with what looked like a 3 ft. coke bottle filled up about a fourth of the way with quarters and other change. We let him go first so we could watch.

"That must be $300 worth of coins!" I exclaimed. He said they were a month's worth of tips from his job at a restaurant. We watched as he poured the money into a tray, then tilted the tray into the machine. It took several trays full before he was finished. His grand total was $280, so I was pretty close. Then he got a cash voucher, telling us to take ours to customer service to present for currency in the amount of our coins, minus a 9% counting fee. (Come to think of it, my guess was almost on the money, before the deduction!) Well, we had only $10, but it was fun, anyway.

What would we do without money? Of itself, it is worth nothing, especially paper money. But when the serial numbers go on, it is accepted as a medium of exchange. That is the final step that changes it from worthless paper to something of value. Then it is known as "fiat", a Latin word for, "Let it be done." I learned that when visiting the U.S Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Fort Worth, Texas last summer.

Another word that represents a medium of exchange is our salvation. We traded our sins for salvation when Jesus applied the blood of the cross, our Medium of Exchange, to them. "It is finished," Jesus said. Fiat: Let it be done. It was His signature written in blood, putting all the power and authority of Heaven behind the authenticity of our redemption. Just as the serial numbers were stamped on the money, so He has set his seal upon us if we have traded our sins for salvation. Ephesians 1:13-14, II Corinthians 1:22. The lost was found.