materials + labor + expenses + profit = wholesale value. If you multiply this sum by 2, you get the retail value of your product.There's a game on Price is Right that deals with determining how much a grocery store item is is what we used to illustrate this. We had 5 items - generic and name brand mixed together. The name brand is generally more expensive due to the name and the advertisements used on the product. I also did an activity out of our book and had everyone bring in an obituary of a woman whose description stood out to them. We determined that the qualities a woman possessed are what drew us to that certain woman. Some of the qualities were: wife, mother, teacher, steadfast, zealous, christian, kind, loyal, faithful. The list could go on and on.
The main thing I wanted to get across with these activities was quality and determining value. Both monetarily and personally. You can take the formula from etsy to determine value of your life too. Materials = lessons you have learned, your personality, and knowledge you have acquired. Labor = the work you put into your life. Expenses = what you have given up when making decisions and when you have compromised. Profit = what you have gained when you gave up the things you did. Wholesale Value = your life in general; the things everyone around you sees everyday. Retail Value = the best you have to offer.The more you look at it, the more it makes sense. It's in the right order too. Sit down sometime and think about what your value would be if someone were trying to price you. Would your price be far more than rubies? Speaking of rubies...did you know that their price is valued more than diamonds? It is due to the rarity of finding them in larger sizes. The ruby is mentioned 6 times in the Bible - each pertaining to wisdom. The royal kings and queens requested rubies when making decisions. The diamond is only mentioned 4 times, in reference to the stones on the robe of the high priest. A ruby is found naturally in a hexagonal shape and is hard to spot. It takes a lot of work to get them cut and shaped without breaking them (this is where the title for the blog comes from - Finding the Ruby Through the Rock. We are the ruby and Christ is the rock.) This is why a virtuous woman is considered worth more than rubies.
You would think that the woman chosen to go with this scripture would be someone like Esther who seemed to have it all - Looks, brains, beauty, Christ, a kingdom, and a husband. Nope. The one that stuck out to me was Rahab, also known as "the harlot". When I mentioned this I feel like the ladies thought I had lost my mind. Stick with me though. I won't go into detail of the story of Rahab - you can find it in Joshua 2. Here's the short version:
Joshua sends two spies into Jericho. The people of Jericho were preventing the Israelites from getting into the land of Canaan. This was the promised land that God gave to Moses in Genesis 12:1. The geographic area was laid out and would be considered modern day Israel. The two spies went out in the night and came upon Rahab's house. She kept an inn which made it more convenient for her chosen night time profession. Rahab hid the men because they knew the king knew they were in Jericho, and she hid them on the roof. They made a deal that if she hid them, they would save her and her house when the Israelites attacked Jericho. To let the men down over the wall, Rahab let down a scarlet rope made from flax. When the men came back over the wall to attack, they would see the rope hanging in her window and know not to destroy it. The rope symbolized the blood of Christ similar to the scripture in Exodus 12. The angel of judgement couldn't touch the doors that had the blood applied.The scarlet rope indicated the covenant made with the two spies. Everyone in Rahab's house was spared. She was in the right house at the right time. In Acts 2, the disciples and some others were gathered in the upper room praying. The Holy Sprit came upon them because they were all in the right house at the right time. Had they not been, they would have missed a blessing. We need to hide our scarlet ropes in the window of our life so that we can let our friends and family know to get in the house. Meaning, they need to get saved before Christ comes back. They need to be in the right house - God's house - so they will be spared.
Rahab might not have been what we would consider the ideal woman at the time this first started. However, she had a few virtues that changed her life. She was trustworthy of the spies, dependable, and loyal to the spies. If she hadn't had these virtues, she would have probably gotten the two spies killed and changed the course of the history of Israel in a negative way instead of the positive. After the fall of Jericho, Rahab married Salmon (one of the two spies) and had a child named Boaz - yes, the one from Ruth. Boaz and Ruth married, had a son named Obed. Obed had a son named Jesse, Jesse had a son named David - yep, king David. This started the lineage of Christ. Rahab became a pretty virtuous woman. She is mentioned again in Matthew 1 in the lineage of Christ, and again in Hebrews, and again in James. What virtues do you possess that are not currently being used for Christ? How could you use them for Christ? How could you show others how to put their virtues to work for Christ? You can be a great person and do many good deeds on this Earth, but those won't get you to heaven. You have to believe that Christ died for you. You have to have a relationship with Him. Let Him into your heart so that you can show others. The virtues you possess will then be used for Christ as you work for Him.
If you go by the KJV of the 10th verse in chapter 31, there are 14 words. God gave me tons of ideas to go with those 14 words. My goal with all of these lessons is to match up a woman in the Bible with the characteristics mentioned in each verse of our scripture we are dealing with. This Wednesday we'll focus on Proverbs 31:11 and 31:12 since they go together.
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