IT’S WORTH CONSIDERING

The Treasure Within Us

But we have the treasure in earthen vessels that the surpassing greatness of the power may be from God and not from ourselves (2 Cor. 4:7).

In today’s verse, Paul is comparing our bodies with the common clay pots used in his day. The pots were only the containers, and they may or may not look good. Their appearance was irrelevant. Their value lay in what they contained. The treasure Paul was referring to was the gospel—a priceless treasure.  We’re just like these clay pots, weak breakable vessels, but housing a life-changing message. God’s plan was to house this treasure (the gospel) in weak containers (us) so that we wouldn’t attempt to share it in our own strength. One of the few advantages of aging is that our weaknesses become more evident and we feel just like these clay pots—cracked, chipped and fragile.

Yet, there’s another dimension of our weakness that we often miss. For true believers, our souls have been redeemed but our bodies haven’t. God chose to have his heavenly treasure (message) contained in an unredeemed body. This doesn’t make our bodies evil, but they’re not yet redeemed. This is why sin can find access to us, even though we have died to it (Rom. 6:2). I mention this only to highlight the need to rely on Christ’s power and not our own.

While the gospel is indeed a priceless treasure, we “house” something even greater—actually someone—the One who is the message of the gospel. When we were born again, our old life died with Christ, never to be resurrected. In its place, God place the life of Christ Himself—a treasure of infinite value and worth. Perhaps God chose to have His Son living in our unredeemed bodies to display that Jesus in us was infinitely more powerful than our sinful desires.

AS I SEE IT

When Jesus walked the earth, the Kingdom of Heaven was among the people. Now that Jesus resides in His followers, the Kingdom of Heaven is in us. If the Kingdom of Heaven is any society in which the will of God is lived out as it is in heaven (Mt. 6:10), then we have the opportunity to bring the Kingdom of Heaven (God) to those around us every time we allow Jesus to live out His life through us.

I know from experience how easy it is to believe this as a concept without making it a lifestyle. We say we were crucified with Christ, but we live just as we always did, as though we never died. We refuse to believe that we needed to die. We keep holding onto the delusion that we actually have the power to accomplish great things for God if we just do it right. We publicly agree that apart from Christ we can do nothing, then proceed to show the world what we can do without Him.

Today’s message is that everything we could ever ask for or dream of resides within us. Perhaps you haven’t even begun to tap into this unlimited power and infinite resources. Do you appreciate the treasure within you, or will you choose to show the world how capable you are all by yourself?

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