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What is your SRV?
The Matter of Recycling, Renewal, and Redemption
As I have mentioned in other writings, our teenage son, Cameron, has been very active in the sport of baseball for the past eight years and is now playing high school ball. Our family has been regularly purchasing bottled water by the caseload each month (for years) for weekly use at practices, during games, and whenever we travel about in our daily routines. We have found it the most efficient way to make our budget stretch while keeping the boy sufficiently hydrated. Whenever we purchase a case or bottle of water, an automatic surcharge is added to the price of the water called CRV (Cash Redemption Value.) On most of the bottled water we buy, the CRV is a nickel per container.
Hence, by virtue and volume of our bottled water consumption, our family has been enticed to participate in recycling plastic bottles to recoup our store surcharges. Cases of plastic bottles, saved and stored in our garage over a few months, add up to a boatload of nickels. It makes sense (pardon the homonym-pun) under such incentive to cash-in on the recycling effort. But that effort is not without its drawbacks.
After all, in order to recycle plastic bottles, there is the issue of mindfulness—rather than discarding an empty container into the trash, each bottle must be placed in a particular receptacle or bag—for the purpose of storing the bottles. Then there is the matter of sufficient space to store the used bottles. And, when the timing seems right, gathering up all of the saved bottles means transporting them to a recycling center, standing in long lines outside, where each bottle is counted (or weighed in bulk), and a redemption coupon is issued that has a cash value. Finally, the redemption coupon must then be taken to a designated business, usually a store, where it can be exchanged for cash.
Recycling, from the consumer end of the process, has nothing to do with what happens to a plastic container after it is saved and reclaimed at a recycling center. No one questions where the water in each bottle came from. We all assume, since it is already bottled, that the water came from a reliable source. Even though the water in the bottle is what we really paid for, the concept of recycling speaks to the importance of not wasting a valuable and renewable resource (the container.) We consider our present and future environment by potentially protecting it from the clutter of discarded plastic bottles. All I know is that I receive a nickel for each plastic bottle I return. And when I examine the label on a purchased water bottle, I can read all sorts of interesting information (provided by the manufacturer) concerning the need to recycle.
In fact, on the particular brand of water I purchase, the source of the water itself seems almost an afterthought, considering the amount of recycling jargon contained therein. Aside from the brand name of the water, which takes up about half of the label, one eighth of label actually describes where the water originated from for the bottled product. The remainder of the label focuses on the container itself. The affixed label declares the commitment of the manufacturer to recycling; that the container itself is made of recycled plastic; that recycling helps the environment; that there is a redemptive value (CRV) in the container. Doesn’t that seem odd? Why so much emphasis on the container, and not the product itself? Doesn’t that message echo a similar and familiar message from another source?
In truth, the echoed message is borrowed from Scripture. According to the Word of God, you are of value to the Kingdom of Heaven. The manufacturer, God (the Creator), is the source of the life within you. But the emphasis of Scripture deals primarily with the container you presently occupy. Unlike a plastic water bottle, your outer container (your body) is not recyclable in the same sense as the recycling of a plastic bottle. Once the life within you passes away from your fleshly container, the body is dead; it cannot be recycled into a new body. But the emphasis of Scripture reminds the reader that the life within you is valuable and recyclable.
Here are a few of the claims paraphrased from Scripture, that God affixes to you. I invite you to read for yourself what God has declared for your life:
You were created in the image of God. (Genesis 1:26 & 27)
You were created by God for a purpose, therefore, you are valuable. (Genesis 1:28-30)
You have redemption value to God. (Exodus 6:6, Psalms 49:15, Titus 2:11-14)
God set the price of your value (Exodus 13:14-16, John 3:16)
God, alone, recycles the life within you, renews your life, redeems you from your sinfulness (Exodus 15:2, 2 Samuel 22:31, Psalms 98:2, Isaiah 12:2 & 3, Acts 4:12)
Your redemption value was costly to God (Genesis 22:8, Romans 3:21-26, Hebrews 9:15-28)
Obviously, my comparisons between plastic bottle recycling and one’s spiritual salvation seem simple. That is by design, and it is not mine. The concept of your redemption must be easy to recognize, otherwise God would have to spend inordinate amounts of time and energy explaining Himself over and over and over again. The simpler the concept, the easier to convey the message.
You know, not everyone recycles plastic bottles. Some just toss them into the garbage, or out of the car window. I have seen plastic bottles discarded on the streets wherever I happen to drive. That does not diminish the value of the bottle in the eyes of the State that authorizes the redemption value. And I see some folks picking up those discards hoping to redeem them for their cash value.
And not everyone who hears the message of the gospel responds either. Perhaps (for those who do not believe in redemption) they are not mindful of the process and see no value in it. Maybe it takes too much time and effort, and those folks just don’t want to allow sufficient space in their hearts and lives for God. Certainly, more than a few have a problem with how the process works. Others voice disdain for the manufacturer and dislike the distributors. A few absolutely loathe the redemption centers. And, of course, some hold back on God until the last possible moment because of timing issues. But that does not diminish the value of the life within them in the eyes of God who authorized their redemption value at the cross. Still, I see some who reach out to those discarded souls, hoping God will redeem them for their true value.
Do you not realize how valuable you are to God? Have you discarded your SRV (Soul Redemption Value) by rejecting the LORD’s offer of salvation? From His perspective, and according to Scripture, no one can redeem you but God Himself. Please examine your life and all that God has granted you. God is not interested in recycling your physical container (your body.) God wants all that is within you. He wants you.
Your Soul Redemption Value (SRV) was paid by Jesus Christ on a cross. The life He offers is eternal. You have only to believe in Him to reclaim it. The price was paid by God for you.
Please do not cast your life, or the love of God, to the curb. Don’t discard your soul in the trash heap of Hell. You are of greater value than a nickel, for you were created in the image of God. That is the label you should read and redeem.
May God lead you into His love, glory, and away from the path of wrath and destruction.
(copyright 2013, Gregory Allen Doyle)