Signs of Grace

For the last three years I have put loose change from my pocket into one receptacle. I regularly would comb through my coins for quarters to supply an afternoon snack from a vending machine. I have been adding to my change for a long time, and while I had removed and reused most of the quarters I decided it was time to cash in. You may have made use of this service at the grocery store. One pours one’s change through an opening and the machine counts the coins. There is a small slot at the bottom of the machine where some coins are rejected along with buttons and other fuzz mixed in with the change. I did have a few buttons, and one large silver coin. I realized immediately why it was not counted. It was a Euro. Now in Europe it would be worth over a dollar, but not in Louisburg. Money reminds us of the power of symbols. We use symbols all the time in our daily lives. In ways that we do not even stop to reflect upon. But if we do not know what the symbols mean we can misunderstand their value. A few years ago before I baptized a couple I wanted to find an explanation of Baptism. I went to our local LifeWay bookstore, and there were no books on baptism. I kept searching and found one book at the seminary bookstore. There were many books about ethics, even more on apologetics, some on living the blessed life, but nothing about the ordinances. I think this is a problem.