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Storehouses and Treasures - part 2 of 3 (Amplified Bible) unless otherwise specified Continually allowing the treasure of Christ’s nature to fill our lives releases Him to complete and manifest us as the treasured vessels He has created us to be. From before the beginning of the world, we were made for His glory. Those with anointed eyes and ears increasingly perceive the vast contrast between the world’s shiny baubles and Christ’s illimitable wealth. Prior to the deposit of God’s holy nature within, man is merely an earthly tent boastfully housing the empty merits of self. But with the deposit of the Divine seed into his reawakened spirit, man becomes an earthen vessel entrusted with the treasure of Christ Himself. As he is transformed from the “earthly” to the “earthen,” man finds his greatest glory in knowing and worshiping the God to whom he belongs. Foreknown of the Father to be among those who would choose to be chosen, the quickened recognize the treasure they are to God. Among “those who feared the Lord,” these “…shall be Mine, says the Lord of hosts, in that day when I publicly recognize and openly declare them to be My jewels (My special possession, My peculiar treasure)” {Mal 3:17a}. Jesus found such a one in the form of a poor widow whose sacrifice to the temple treasury represented “all she had” in contrast to the tokens the rich threw in from their abundance. Her sacrifice of two copper mites (worth half a cent) proved her to be one of God’s special treasures {Mark 12:41-44}. Blind to their own impure motivation, the others sought “…to make a good impression and a fine show in the flesh…” {Gal 6:12a}. Obedience to the Holy Spirit’s promptings and yieldedness to the cross radiate from within man’s spirit to such an extent that Christ’s light shines through. Cheerful surrender to Christ’s bidding yields a double deliverance as testified by the apostle Paul: “But far be it from me to glory [in anything or anyone] except in the cross or our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah), through Whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world!” {Gal 6:14}. The degree of our sacrifice is determined by our choosing to give or withhold any portion of the “all” of what we have and who we are. To the rich young ruler who wished to “inherit eternal life” through what he could do, Jesus required a personally tailored cross {Mat 19:16-30}. Discipleship requires that each of us accept or reject our daily cross in exchange for His Life being lived through us. Even a superficial awareness of today’s media reveals the disdain with which Christ and His cause are viewed. Those who are so poor in spirit as to follow Him are deemed by the liberal intelligentsia as “ignorant,” “uninformed,” “out of touch with reality.” Beneath the mockery operates the Christ-defying spirit of antichrist. Of Moses it is written, “He considered the contempt and abuse and shame [borne for] the Christ (the Messiah Who was to come) to be greater wealth than all the treasures of Egypt, for he had looked forward and away to the reward (recompense)” {Heb 11:26}. The challenge to those who would follow has not lessened nor has the prize diminished: “…if you will obey My voice in truth and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own peculiar possession and treasure…”{Ex 19:5}. -Ruth French February Newsletter 2005 | Spiritual Winter | You Ravish My Heart Pastor's Journal February 2004 | First Love | Storehouses and Treasures part 2 of 3 |
Biblical Counseling for Leaders
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