Hidden Treasures

 

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

—Matthew 6:19-21

I have a beautiful photograph of my maternal grandmother as a teenager. What a treasure! I also have a Waterford crystal apple given to me by my music colleagues on the occasion of my retirement from teaching. Again, what a treasure! Once in awhile I take the opportunity to look at my various pieces of furniture, jewelry, dishes, photographs, and paintings that I consider true treasures and I marvel at these “things” that God has so graciously given me.

I don’t think Jesus was opposed to earthly treasures. But instead, He wants us to put them into proper perspective and use them as an illustration of the greater things He wants us to value. Even more than the way we take out our keepsakes and admire them, I believe He wants us to set aside the time, once in awhile, to admire the eternal treasures He gives us. Is there a better opportunity than during the Season of Lent for us to do just that?

Do you have familiar passages of Scripture that you memorized a long time ago, or learned as a child, but which have slipped into the background of your thinking? Why not take those Scripture passages out, dust them off, and reclaim them? For example, how long has it been since you have read and meditated on Psalm 23? Or, perhaps the Lord spoke to you and changed you through some other passage of Scripture that you haven’t looked at in some time. Take the time during the Season of Lent to read that passage in another translation, to study it verse by verse, word by word. If you do so, I believe you will discover that a treasure awaits you!

Another source, in my personal “glass case of memories,” comes through the hymns and spiritual songs that I have sung over and over throughout my lifetime. These hymns hold treasured phrases and living images of God’s truths. To review them brings me renewed blessing, challenges, gratitude, and love for my Lord.

If you journal your spiritual progress, like I do, the things that God teaches us daily, in our quiet time with Him, reveal a fortune of riches. I encourage you to join me in taking a look back through our journal entries. See how He has blessed us through the day-to-day revelation of His presence. The times He has met with us, answered prayer, and taught us about life with Him should truly make us rejoice in the treasures He has given to us.

So, I am suggesting that we all pull out the treasures we have stored in our hearts—treasures of Scriptures and spiritual songs, treasures of the day-to-day remembrances of His presence. We need to slowly turn them over in our minds and hearts, admiring the prized truths that bring our Savior closer and help us adore Him, the greatest Treasure of them all!

 

 

Behold the Lamb!

 

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

—John 1:29

References to Jesus as “the Lamb of God,” come up often in the New Testament Scriptures—from His baptism by John, all the way to Revelation, the last book of the Bible. Most often the image of the Lamb refers to Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and His disposition as He made that sacrifice.

The challenge for us, who follow the Lamb during this Season of Lent, comes when we humbly acknowledge how far we fall from His standard.

The British evangelist and author, Roy Hession, refers to an address he heard in London in the 1940’s by a Mr. Marshall Shallis, who spoke of Jesus as:¹

1. The simple Lamb—helpless and dependent.
   
   
2. The shorn Lamb—of His rights, His reputation, His position.
   
   
3. The silent Lamb—never defending Himself or explaining Himself.
   
   
4. The spotless Lamb—no resentment, no grudges, no bitterness.
   
   
5. The substitute Lamb—carrying our sins, the scapegoat for us, scarred and humble.

If we make it our goal to be like Jesus, we need to consider how the Holy Spirit continually urges us to allow Him to accomplish more of these characteristics of the Lamb in us. We should accept the challenge during this Season of Lent to join in meditating on the love that led Jesus to become the Lamb for us. Then, let us listen as the Holy Spirit urges us to ask what qualities He would like to see blossom in our lives.

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1 Hession, Roy, The Calvary Road. London: Christian Literature Crusade, 1950. Pp. 60-64.

 

 

Welcome

 

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

—Matthew 11:28 KJV

I know that plenty of children do not find their fathers approachable—especially when connecting with their dads means reporting on some bad news. Having borne the brunt of numerous angry, abusive responses, they shy away from intimate relationships with their fathers.

This phenomenon is not limited to childhood. Even approaching people with whom we work, or with whom we volunteer, or to whom we are related can produce the same kind of reticence. If the individuals we intend to approach have rebuffed us in the past, we may stew a bit before we try to connect with them. I think of two Bible stories that clearly demonstrate this kind of fear:

• In certain chapters of Scripture—Genesis 27 - 33—we read the stories of Jacob and his first-born brother Esau. Due to Jacob’s deceptions, he received the blessing of his father instead of Esau. This resulted in anger and hatred from Esau and a plan to kill his brother. Jacob eventually moved to Hiran, to get away from his brother and with the intent of finding a wife.
  
  After leaving Hiran many years later, richer and blessed with sons and daughters, he struggled when he considered whether or not to arrange a meeting with Esau again after all the intervening years. Jacob prayed and wrestled with God all night before the confrontation with Esau the next day.
  
  God heard his prayers and Esau greeted Jacob with a warm welcome. However, because Jacob feared that his brother would seem unapproachable, Jacob suffered great fear of that meeting.
  
  
• As recorded in the Book of Esther, the queen feared the king because of the edict he had issued that no one could come into his presence without his invitation. Anyone violating this decree would be killed. But, Queen Esther had agreed to approach the king on behalf of her people, the Jews. So, Queen Esther prayed and fasted, asking God to preserve her as she approached the king. God heard and answered her prayers.
  
  

Our God does not treat us in such a way that we need to fear coming to Him with our requests. A. W. Tozer writes: ¹

God never changes moods or cools off in His affections or loses enthusiasm. His attitude toward sin is now the same as it was when He drove out the sinful man from the eastward garden, and His attitude toward the sinner the same as when He stretched forth His hands and cried, “Come unto me.” … He is always receptive to misery and need, as well as to love and faith. He does not keep office hours nor set aside periods when He will see no one.

When it comes to approaching God in our times of need, His open arms will always greet us. Yes, He welcomes us, just as various Scripture records that He did in both Old Testament times and in New Testament times—as He welcomed the beggars and the sick, and as He welcomed the children in Mark 10:13-16.

We must never consider that we are interrupting God to come to Him. We must never consider that our needs are too small for Him to meet. Instead, we must accept His gracious welcome and know that He never changes.

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1 Tozer, A. W. The Knowledge of the Holy. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1961. p. 53.

 

 

Our Tent Pegs

 

“From Judah will come the cornerstone, from him the tent peg.”

—Zechariah 10:4

The nation of Israel certainly knew about tent pegs. In their forty years of wandering the desert, and until the “permanent” temple in Jerusalem was built, they worshipped in a large tent or tabernacle, which from time to time they had to pick up and move to a different location in the desert.

In the Book of Exodus, we read that these tent pegs were crafted of bronze. They were mentioned throughout that Book and into the Book of Numbers. These tent pegs had a significant purpose in maintaining the stability of the tabernacle.

We all have our “tent pegs.” Our “tent pegs” consist of those things we have crafted, or more likely received as a gift of God’s grace, that help us feel stable in the unfolding of our daily lives.

As a child, I felt secure because I had loving Christian parents and large Christian extended family. I lived in the same house until I left for college. I went to the same church, to the same school, and so forth, all through those years.

As an adult, I may not think I rely so heavily anymore on “earthly” tent pegs, but I guess that I do. I get stability from my home, my husband, my family, my church, my friends, and from even more.

Furthermore, each of us has likely suffered loss of something we have relied upon as a “tent peg.” The circumstances of our lives have caused us to lose something or someone we held dear that provided stability in our lives.

Even as God did with the Israelites, He sometimes asks us to pull up our tent pegs because He has a new venture for us. We may be thrust into a new situation that feels so different and unstable to us. Yet, God wants to show us that He is the unchangeable “tent peg” of our lives—the One on whom we need to rely. He provides the rock-solid stability upon which we need to depend.

Though the Psalmist used somewhat different images, in Psalm 46:1-7 we read the similar sentiment:

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth gives way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.

Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Whether we want to think of God as a refuge and a fortress in the storm when everything falls around us, or the stable “tent peg” who keeps the tent of our lives upright and stable, we do our best when we consciously and consistently rely on Him, rather than on any earthly tent pegs, of which we tend to expect too much.