Canada has already decided their penny has to go.
That decision was made because Canada did some calculations and discovered it wasn’t sensible to produce a coin with such a low value. Since the U.S. mint has said it costs 2.41 cents to mint a penny, some are wondering how long it will be before the lowly Lincoln coin is put on the endangered species list.
The reason such decisions are made: producing pennies are not profitable and, therefore, they must disappear.
A week or so ago the U.S. Post Office announced it will soon stop delivering first-class mail on Saturdays. Packages will continue to be distributed because they make money, but first-class mail, well, such letters just aren’t profitable.
That news got me worried. I wondered what will be left if making a profit becomes the standard by which a government decides to do or not do something? It was downright frightening at the many things which might disappear.
Thankfully, making a profit is not what motivated the Savior.
Think upon it. It wasn’t profitable for Jesus to leave heaven and come to earth. It wasn’t profitable for God’s Son to be raised by human parents in a sinful world. It wasn’t profitable for Him to work with disciples who didn’t understand Him, or continue to reach out to people who hated Him. It wasn’t profitable for Him to be betrayed by a friend and deserted by others. It wasn’t profitable for God’s innocent Son to carry the crushing weight of sin for all of humanity.
It wasn’t profitable for Jesus to die on a cross for a world that didn’t want Him.
In spite of all this, Jesus did that which wasn’t profitable for Him so that we might be forgiven and saved. John wrote it and we can believe it: “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.”
Jesus’ third-day resurrection from the dead says His sacrifice was accepted, so the world might be saved through Him.
In short, Jesus didn’t personally profit from His sacrifice, but those who have a Spirit-given faith — who acknowledge Jesus as their Savior — most certainly have.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, You gave Your Son as the sacrifice to save us. May we always remember His suffering and glorious resurrection, which moves us from hell to heaven, from damnation to salvation. This I pray in Jesus’ Name. Amen.