05/09/2015
How much does faith cost?
A little girl
went to her
bedroom
and pulled
a glass jelly
jar from its hiding place in the closet. She
poured the change out on the floor and
counted it carefully. Three times, even.
The total had to be exactly perfect.
Carefully placing the coins back in the jar and
twisting on the cap, she slipped out the back
door and made her way 6 blocks to a Drug
Store.
She waited patiently for the pharmacist to
give her some attention but he was too busy
at that moment. Tess twisted her feet to make
a scuffing noise to attract the man but it
didn't.
She cleared her throat with the most
disgusting sound she could muster, yet
nothing happened.
Finally she took the cap of her jar and banged
it on the glass counter, 'that did it' she said.
"And what do you want?" the pharmacist
asked in an annoyed tone of voice."I'm talking
to my brother from Chicago whom I haven't
seen in ages," he said without waiting for a
reply to his question.
"Well, I want to talk to you about my
brother," Tess answered back in the same
annoyed tone. "He's really, really sick... and I
want to buy a faith."
''I beg your pardon?" said the pharmacist. His
name is Andrew and he has something bad
growing inside his head, and my Daddy says
only faith can save him now. So how much
does faith cost?".
"We don't sell faith here, little girl. I'm sorry,
I can't help you," the pharmacist said,
softening a little. "Listen, I have the money to
pay for it. If it isn't enough, I will get the
rest. Just tell me how much it costs." The
pharmacist's brother was a well dressed man.
He stooped down and asked the little girl,
"What kind of faith does your brother need?"
"I don't know," Tess replied with her eyes
welling up. "I just know he's really sick and
Mommy says he needs an operation.
But my Daddy can't pay for it, so I want to
use my money.
"How much do you have?" asked the man.
"One dollar and eleven cents," Tess answered
barely audibly. "And it's all the money I have,
but I can get some more if I need to".
"Well, what a coincidence," smiled the man.
"A dollar and eleven cents--- the exact price
of a faith for little brothers." He took her
money in one hand and with the other hand
he grasped her mitten and said "Take me to
where you live. I want to see your brother
and meet your parents. Let's see if I have the
faith you need."
The well dressed man was a surgeon,
specialized in neuro-surgery. The operation
was completed free of charge and it wasn't
long Andrew was home again, and doing well.
Mom and Dad were happily talking about the
chain of events that had led them to this
place.
"That surgery," her Mom whispered. "was a
real miracle from faith". I wonder how much
it would have cost?".
Tess smiled, She knew exactly how much a
faith cost, one dollar and eleven cents, as a
little child.
Points to consider:
Without faith it is impossible to do anything,
therefore, by faith, miracles occur. Faith is
expensive; it might require you giving up one
dollar and eleven cents like Tess or your Isaac
like the very father of faith - Abraham. If you
think Faith is expensive, try Fear!
14 What does it profit, my brethren, if
someone says he has faith but does not have
works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or
sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16
and one of you says to them, “Depart in
peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not
give them the things which are needed for the
body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith
by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
(James 2:14-17)
