Who Changed the Price Tags?

Tony Campolo tells a story about growing up in Philadelphia. When he was a boy, the night before Halloween was called Mischief Night - it was a night for practical jokes and pranks. He tells about one Mischief Night, when he and a friend broke into a five-and-dime store not far from his house. They didn’t steal anything. He said, “We did something far worse!” They went around and changed the price tags on just about everything in the store! He says, “The next morning, people found that radios were selling for ten cents, while bobby pins were priced at ten dollars!” What was valuable had been made cheap, and what was cheap had been made valuable!

He tells the story to make the point that in America (and I would add - more and more - in Christianity) - it’s like someone has broken in and changed the price tags - more and more - we invest little time in what is important - and we spend more and more time on what is worthless! Our values - our priorities - get all messed up!