For years the little stream had played the same soothing sounds. Tumbling over the rocks, it ran under the bridge in the woods. The people in the nearby town had passed the little stream many times.
Often a poor man also passed by. A frayed and shabby bag was slung over his bent back. It held the few vegetables he would try to sell in town.
He usually walked by, greeting the stream as an old friend. Sometimes he sang along with it. But this day he stopped and looked into the water.
That old lump of a rock is what I need, he thought. It looked a little different. The color was a little odd. He had glanced at it a hundred times before but had never stopped to really look at it. But this day he realized it was just the right size to hold his weathered door open on the hot afternoons of August in North Carolina.
It was some time later that a geologist passing by saw the rock, right there at his door. It actually was more than a doorstop. It was the biggest lump of gold ever found east of the Rockies! But it had sat unweighed and only valued as a lowly doorstop at the poor man’s door.
Many people had passed by it for years, seeing no value in it. The poor man had given it only a slight value - as a doorstop. But its real value was always there and never changed. While the gentle stream washed its rough but priceless features, or while it sat daily by the old man’s door, its real and unvalued worth was the same.
Years ago the Lord Jesus asked His disciples, “Whom do [people] say that I am?” (Mark 8:2727And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am? (Mark 8:27)). They answered Him that some thought He was John the Baptist and others thought He was one of the old prophets. But Jesus asked them again, “Whom say ye that I am?” Simon Peter quickly answered, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:1416).
Today some people think of Him as a poor man from Galilee, just a carpenter. Some see a wise and good prophet and stop to hear a few words. Some see a good man and get nothing more from Him than the example of His life. In many hearts He is like the rock by the door, completely undervalued.
You see, He was God, come into this world as a man. Yes, He was a carpenter, but remember He also created the world and the solar system by speaking the words. He was also the One who had inspired all the other prophets before Him, and they wrote about how He would be born and live and die for sinners.
Take a closer look; read the Gospel of John. He says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man [comes] unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:66Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)). He also said, “I am the door” (John 10:99I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. (John 10:9)).
Are you using Him as a lowly, nearly worthless doorstop? Have you been overlooking the GOLD? He died on the cross for you because He loves you and wants to save you from your sins. Will you accept Him as your very own Saviour?
ML-05/31/1998