Micah J. Sturm
Greeneville, Tennessee, is home for me. It was also the birthplace of every “cent” of US coinage.
My maternal grandfather worked in the facility where the penny blanks were made and would sometimes bring home “defective” samples.
I thought we were rich as my hands passed through a bucket of coins!
Papaw told me, “These things aren’t worth much until Uncle Sam puts his mark on them!”
See, these blank coins left my hometown and were sent to the US Mint to be stamped with Abraham Lincoln on the front, the Lincoln Memorial on the back, the name and seal of the United States, and the motto “In God We Trust.”
Then, and only then, would the blank coins truly be worth a cent.
The process of creating a US penny reminds me of the transforming grace of God.
Materials are mined from the earth, the same dust from whence God created humankind.
A “washing” of these materials make them usable for the next step in the process.
Sounds like “he saved us…by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior” (Titus 3:5-6).
Next, the materials are purified with intense heat and an electrolytic process.
Just like John the Baptist said, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I…He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11) and the disciples later experienced when “…He purified their hearts by faith” (Acts 15:9).
But the blank coins are not yet what they were intended to be.
According to Christine Knobel in her article, “The Life Cycle of a Penny”:
“The penny planchets are then taken to the press where there is a mounted reverse and obverse die.
The coins are pressed by a striker that consists of two dies; the reverse or “tails side” die is stationary while the obverse or “heads side” die is the hammer.
Thirty five tons of pressure is used to transfer the design of the dies to the penny (Unser).
The pennies are eventually shipped out to Federal Reserve Banks across the nation to enter into circulation (Unser).”
The miracle of God’s saving grace brings us to the pivotal moment of being marked with His likeness. It is a powerful encounter where a prepared heart becomes entirely His—entire sanctification.
Only then are we ready to be sent out in the name of our King to circulate as His ambassadors.
Those blank pennies in my grandfather’s pocket were new and shiny but incomplete.
Believers need to submit to the die press of the Lord and seek to be stamped with His image deep on our hearts.
Then we will be ready for circulation and fulfilling the purpose for which He made us—Christlikeness.
“From there the penny lives out its lifecycle. The average penny life cycle is 25 years (Jarden Zinc Products). At the end of the penny’s life cycle banks return the coins the Federal Reserve.”
One day, at the end of our lifecycle, the Reserve of Heaven will call us home too!
Holiness Matters 