It’s a no-brainer that the rarity of precious metals is what makes them so valuable. However, what you may not know, is how essential metals such as silver and gold are to modern day life. Whilst a high percentage of precious metals are used in jewellery and ornaments, they also turn up in a wide variety of every day applications that may surprise you.
Gold for example, which is both corrosion resistant and capable of static-free electrical conduction, is used in the nearly 1.5 million smart phones sold every year.
Perhaps that explains why mobiles cost so much!
The best-known precious metals, gold (Au) and silver (Ag), have been used since ancient times.
Silver was used by the ancient Greeks for it’s natural antimicrobial properties before the discovery of modern antibiotics. Today silver continues to be used in X-rays, other medical applications, and also water purification.
Panning for gold
It’s hardly surprising that both silver and gold are referenced so frequently in the Bible; both literally and metaphorically.
Apparently Peter and John told the lame man they didn’t have any (Acts 3:6). King David on the other hand amassed so much of it that he had three thousand talents of gold and seven thousand talents of refined silver (1 Chronicles 29:4) – more than enough to underwrite the temple building project that was to be supervised by his son.
And whilst King Solomon inherited this vast wealth, he ascribed an even greater value to the treasures of wisdom.
Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding; For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver, and her gain than fine gold.
Proverbs 3:13,14
A new value proposition
The good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings with it a radical re-engineering of societal strata based on earning capability, possessions, and investment accumulation. Believers become citizens in what has been aptly described as an ‘upside down kingdom’. The flimflam of meritocracy is stripped bare, and ends with emptiness. Alternatively, the pathway to genuine value begins with losing but ends with gain.
For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it
Mark 8:35,36
Do you not perceive it?
Can I propose that as a matter of urgency we need to seek God for wisdom such that we would understand more clearly His plans and purposes for the times in which we live.
Ask. Seek. Knock.
What do you perceive? You can share your thoughts and comments via email to info@thehivechurch.com
