"The Family of God: Rendering to Him His Due"

It is interesting how Jesus uses something small and unobtrusive to point us toward a greater spiritual truth. When He asked the Pharisees whose image and inscription was on the coin (Matt. 22:19), Jesus was referring them back to Genesis 1:26-27, the creation of man. God created every man, woman, and child in His image, after His likeness.

Each one of us is like a coin on whose face God has stamped His image and inscription. Every time we look in the mirror we are reminded of Whose we are. We belong to God. And every time people see us, they in turn are reminded of Whose we are. We belong to God. Everything about and of us is His. We cannot claim anything as our own.

Because it is God's image we carry and we belong to Him, we bear the responsibility and duty to render back what is due Him, which is to properly reflect Who He is. In doing so, we are setting a good example to all who see or know us.

In paralleling the coin with man, Jesus is also reminding us of our face value and of our intrinsic value. We have no right to deface or mar ourselves with sin because in stamping His image upon us, God declared our "face" value: Priceless! In giving His only begotten Son to save us from sin, He proclaimed our intrinsic value: Eternal!

To realize Whose we are, to believe in our worth, to live with godly dignity, and to render loving service, we are being epistles of Christ, known and read by all men. (2 Cor. 3:2-3) We then become that "picture that is worth a thousand words".