What is the best purchase you have ever made?
Best for value? Best at the moment? Or best for the seller? The answer, I’ve come to realize, is entirely subjective.
Yet judgment is never neutral—it flows from a deeper set of values. One dollar may seem worthless to some, yet without that single coin, a beggar cannot buy a meal to fill his stomach. When grace moves another to give, that humble meal becomes the beggar’s best purchase.
Years ago, my high school math teacher offered this piece of wisdom: “If you drop a dollar coin into a ditch, pick it up—because great wealth begins from one dollar.” I’ve carried that lesson with me ever since. I spend carefully, buying only what I need. Every dollar spent with intention becomes, in its own way, the best value for money.
But for me, the truest meaning of “best purchase” has little to do with earthly goods. It is about acquiring treasures of eternal worth. Scripture urges us: “Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding” (Proverbs 23:23)—not with silver or gold, but with faith alone. For “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life” (Romans 6:23). The Lord Jesus paid that price through His sacrifice on the cross (Colossians 2:14), offering grace freely to all who receive it.
As a child, I acquired the Truth (John 14:6). Unlike any material possession, its value never depreciates. Over the years, I have purchased investment plans and properties—each brought fleeting contentment, but when markets shifted or tastes changed, I sold them. Buying truth, wisdom, and understanding, however, is entirely different from buying a luxury car or a grand estate. Once possessed, the Truth is never sold. It gives life—and not just any life, but everlasting abundance.
Today’s question invites each of us to reflect on our best purchase. I believe the answer depends entirely on what we value most. Some may sell all they own for what they deem of greater worth. If that commitment springs from a divine desire, then truth truly dwells in them—not merely as a concept, but as a living reality (John 14:6).
So I leave you with this: Do we see giving grace to the less fortunate as a wise investment? Or would we forsake earthly wealth for a treasure our eyes cannot perceive? Perhaps the poem below will illuminate your thoughts the next time you hold a single dollar in your hand.
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✨ One is Great ✨
One firefly gives no light;
ten thousand together cleave the night.
One coin buys no meal to eat;
a million give one—each—
and the hungry poor find meat.
All things from one small spark unfurl—
so will finds wings to change the world.
Drops make rivers; bare hands raise halls;
one battle turns the fate of thralls.
One finger fails; ten grasp the sky—
together, even mountains fly.
One limb is weak, yet all combined
can set the darkened world alight.
To rise or fall, to heal or mar—
it all begins with the first star.
en yan hua fang 