The Treasure that lives in me is the Holy Spirit. God's Spirit resides in ... ME ?!?! Weak, failing, frail, wicked me? Yes. When I accepted Jesus as my Savior, His Spirit came to live in me. And day by day, His Spirit is transforming me, into His likeness. As I allow Him to have more and more of me, I become less and He becomes more.
Who am I that God would deem this possible? That this cracked, frail ugly little clay pot named Robyn would host the Spirit of the Almighty God? It's a little unnerving to say the least!
Yet, God makes it possible. Not so that I can say "I am worthy" but so that I can say exactly the opposite. I am NOT worthy yet the Love of Christ is such that He chose to redeem me and cleanse me and reside with in me. And by this the world will know that God lives.
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 2 Corinthians 4:8
I have troubles But I will not be crushed and broken. I'm confused but I won't give up or quit. I am pursued by evil but God has not left me. I get knocked down, time and time again but I will get up and keep going.
I have been chewing on this 4th chapter of 2 Corinthians for several days now. It's got so much of what I need right now that I have not been pushed by my daily Bible reading plan but rather just camped out right here in chapter 4 to drink in all that God wants me to. I have been praying for several people lately who are struggling with things in this life; overwhelming things. Depression, sickness, death.... and I know the depths of the despair they feel because I've walked through those experiences myself.
Yet. Yet the TREASURE is with in us.
I can't help but chuckle a little thinking about this line in the movie "O Brother Where Are Thou?" where one of the characters warns the others "do not seek the treasure!" Most treasure hunts can bring us along a dangerous path. At least that is the way it is depicted in the movies. But the treasure of the Holy Spirit is worth pursuing, so like most people on a treasure hunt, we press on. And to fully have this treasure, there will be a death. the death of my selfish-need-to-have-control- be-in-charge-want-it-all- self. But what I will gain in exchange is incomparable.
That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. 2 Corinthians 4: 16-18
This is fantastic, thank you for sharing!
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