The Matchless Mine

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by Zane Hodges, excerpted from The Journey of Faith: Sermons on Hebrews

If you should ever happen to come to the city of Dallas, which I hope you will, let me recommend a restaurant to you. It is called Baby Doe’s. It is laid out in a turn of the century mine setup. The story behind Baby Doe is an exceedingly interesting story. Baby Doe was a beautiful divorcee when she met a man named Horace Tabor who was a wealthy miner. Mr. Tabor had made millions of dollars off of the mine which he called the Matchless Mine in Leadville, Colorado. Mr. Tabor divorced his wife and married Baby Doe. Their wedding was one of the great social events of the early West. The President of the United States was invited and he came.

But not long after the wedding, a series of reverses struck and Mr. Tabor lost everything.  He died heartbroken and poverty stricken. But just before he died, he gave a final word of admonition to Baby Doe. He said, “Have faith in the Matchless Mine. Don’t give it up. It will repay you all that I have lost.” Well, Baby Doe believed that promise and for the next thirty-six years of her life, as she became and aging widow, she lived close to the Matchless mine despite crushing adversity and repeated court orders designed to get rid of her. In 1935, in a dilapidated shack, close to the Matchless Mine, Baby Doe died nearly penniless because she had put her faith in a promise that could never be fulfilled.

Do you realize that the world in which we live is pock marked with dry holes and worthless mines. The story of Baby Doe has been repeated a hundred different times by men and women of the world, who set their hope on something in this world which can never fulfill or reward them.

But, you know something? I could wish that in our spiritual lives we were all like Baby Doe. Because, you see, the Christian faith is the only matchless mine there is. It is from this mine that we can dig the splendid privilege of being a partner with the King. So, have faith in the matchless mine. Never give it up. Whatever it has cost you to be obedient to Christ will be doubly repaid when He comes again.

For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: ‘For yet a very little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry.’

Hebrews 10:36-37

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