The World’s Worthless Penny
[Jesus said,] I pray for them . . . for they are mine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
John 17:9–10
I believe un-self-consciousness is characteristic of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. The person who says, “I am Spirit-filled” sets himself up for some pretty uncomfortable scrutiny. Did any apostle or disciple say of himself, “I am filled with the Holy Spirit”? But others would say of them, “They were filled with the Holy Spirit.” The person who is self-consciously loving, self-consciously joyful, self-consciously peaceful, has about him the odor of self. And as one Christian sagely observed: “Self is spiritual B.O.”
A little child playing one day with a very valuable vase put his hand into it and could not withdraw it. The father, too, tried his best to get the little boy’s hand out, but all in vain. They were thinking of breaking the vase when the father said, “Now, my son, make one more try. Open your hand and hold your fingers out straight as you see me doing and then pull.”
To their astonishment the little fellow said, “Oh no, Father. I couldn’t put my fingers out like that because if I did I would drop my penny.”
Smile if you will—but thousands of us are like that little boy, so busy holding on to the world’s worthless penny that we cannot accept liberation. I beg you to drop that trifle in your heart. Surrender! Let go and let God have His way in your life.
Now after you have given yourself completely to Christ in surrender to Him, remember that God has accepted what you have presented. “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).
You have come to Him; now He has received you. And He will in no wise cast you out!
Our Father and our God, Your kindness and compassion overwhelm me. Fill me with Your Spirit, Lord. Show me how to let go of the world and its trinkets. Teach me to find contentment and peace in You in every situation of my life, whether joy or sorrow. I love You, Father. Through Christ. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).