It is likely that if you buy something at the store, especially something small, it was wrapped in cellophane. A Swedish chemist, Jacques Brandenburger, was tired of looking at tablecloths in Paris restaurants that were unwashed and stained. So, he decided to invent something that could be easily wiped clean.
He eventually settled on a cellulose product which (combining “cellulose” with “diaphane” – transparent in French) he called cellophane. Brandenburger tried to sell cellophane to Hollywood for their movies, but it melted under heat. So, he sold it to stores to wrap expensive products.
Cellophane was so expensive at that time only the most fancy boutiques in Paris could use it. At night, they locked their cellophane in the store safe!
Over time, as with so many products, cellophane became quicker and cheaper to produce and dropped in price. Eventually, scientists at DuPont produced a waterproof version of cellophane. Now, cellophane is quite ubiquitous, being found all over your house.
Human beings are also ubiquitous, found all over the world, But, unlike cellophane, they have never lost their value. Every human being is made in the image of God (Gen. 9:6) so that each person has a touch of God’s nature in them. That makes them valuable.
We call that “touch” the spirit and Jesus tells us that this spirit is so very important – even more important than all the gold in the world: “ “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:24-26).
So, the next time you unwrap cellophane from a product or wrap cellophane around leftovers to put in the refrigerator, be reminded that you are very valuable to God. Your soul meant the death of His Son.
Paul Holland