Lockdown Day 30: WHAT CURRENCY DO YOU USE?

It’s not WHAT you communicate, it’s HOW you communicate. In this season of uncertainty, with more than 160,000 Corona-deaths in less than 3 months, the currency we deal with becomes paramount in what we hope to obtain.

During our recent visit to the USA, I accidentally produced a South African R2.00 coin when trying to buy coffee at a local restaurant. Roughly the same size and colour as a US Quarter, the waitress did not spot the inconsistency immediately, but it did not take her long to return with the foreign coin. “Sir, with this currency you can’t buy that product,” she kindly said with a smile and pointed simultaneously to the coin and the coffee.

The currency we use when buying products will always reflect the nation we represent and becomes obsolete outside that context. When attempting to obtain a spiritual ‘product’, Christians, as citizens of heaven, will use Kingdom currencies while those who choose to remain untransformed continue to use carnal currencies. The end will not justify the means.

The Biblical principle is that you cannot ‘buy’ truth with the ‘currency’ of fear. You can only use the Kingdom currency of love. (Ephesians 4:15  Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.)   You cannot ‘buy’ reconciliation with the ‘currency’ of suspicion – even if you believe what you say is true. You can only obtain peace with the Kingdom currency of grace. Think about all the conspiracies flying around at the moment. Sowing fear, slandering people, and sowing suspicion.  And even though some of the theories might contain some elements of truth, the ‘product’ that they aim to obtain will be carnal and not of the Kingdom. It is not WHAT we say, it is HOW we convey it

The question we need to ask ourselves is what currency we use in order to acquire Kingdom ‘products’. The product might be noble and Biblical but, as the waitress rightly said, “With this currency, you can’t buy that product.”

• The currency of slander will buy suspicion
• The currency of suspicion will buy division
• The currency of division will buy fear
• The currency of fear will buy hatred
• The currency of hatred will buy anger
• The currency of anger will buy war
• The currency of war will buy destruction

These currencies may secure our kingdoms on earth, our properties, and our safety, but it will exclude us from an eternal Kingdom, the Kingdom of God. The only currency we can deal with as Christians, no matter how noble the intention, is to deal in currencies that belong to the Kingdom of Heaven.

• The currency of love will buy harmony
• The currency of harmony will buy forbearance
• The currency of forbearance will buy restraint
• The currency of restraint will buy truth
• The currency of truth will buy kindness, goodness, and gentleness
• The currency of kindness, goodness, and gentleness will buy peace

The next time I place a post or a comment on Facebook I will first determine the currency and consider what product I might eventually end up with.