On Knowing Your Value

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“Bad, bad,” says the buyer, but when he goes away, then he boasts. Proverbs 20:14

Among the countless books that I pilfered from my Father’s library, one of my favs is a two-volume collection called Plutarch’s Lives. The book parallels the lives of several eminent Greek and Roman characters, drawing lessons (both good and bad) from their respective careers, contributions, and choices.

One of the most interesting of these lessons can be drawn from the life of Julius Caesar. As a young man, Caesar was captured by pirates on while en route to broaden his education. In Caesar’s time, travel by ship was the primary mode of international travel, and pirates roamed the sea in search of ships containing anything of value (whether merchandise or people), which they would steal and then sell back to the owner of the ship after a huge mark up on the price.

As the 25 year old son of an elite Roman family, Caesar was an extremely valuable prize. He was captured, then informed that the ransom price was 20 talents—which at the time was a very considerable sum. According to Plutarch, Caesar laughed and told them that their asking price was too low! He suggested that they raise it to 50 talents. They did, and sold him back.

But wait—the story gets even better! After Caesar was released, he found a ship, raised an army, returned to the pirates who had just ransomed him, and killed them all.

Now let me very quickly say that I do not advocate murder, or revenge. Let me also say that I’m not too fond of water transport either. (Not interested in a cruise of any sort lol)

The aspect of this incident that I believe holds the most value for all of us is that Caesar knew his worth. He did not allow his captors nor his environment define his value. He knew that once his family discovered his plight, no expense would be spared to secure his release.

Caesar laughed at their initial valuation! I must confess that this is one of those scenes from history that I wish I could have observed with my own eyes and ears. I can only imagine how dumbfounded those pirates must have been. They probably went and told the chief pirates, “hey boss, we got a crazy prisoner on board!”

But Ladies and Gentlemen, take heed. Knowing your value is no laughing matter. How often have we put ourselves on sale?

In Proverbs 20:14, Solomon shows us one side of an interesting transaction. A man is buying an unnamed item and is trying to convince the seller that what he is offering is trash. The buyer keeps telling the seller “your product is bad, bad, bad.” Apparently, the seller must have agreed, and therefore sells. Then Solomon tells us that the buyer (who told the seller that his product was bad) walks away and brags to everyone how he got such a great deal.

Solomon only focuses on the buyer.

But let’s switch that around, and think about the seller. I wonder how the seller felt when he heard the buyer call his product “bad.” I wonder what thoughts ran through his mind?

What he probably thought to himself was : “I thought my stuff was better than this”

What he should have thought to himself was :”Why would someone want to buy something that’s bad?”

When the transaction was over, we do know that the buyer thought he got a great bargain.

But I have often wondered if he got that bargain because the buyers attitude towards what the seller was offering caused the seller to lower his price.

Takeaway:

Don’t lower your price.

Don’t lower your standards.

Don’t lower your reach.

Make the pirates in your life raise their offer.