BBD 03.21.06 Hidden Treasure
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>
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03.21.06
Hidden Treasure
Princes persecute me without a cause, but my heart stands in awe of Your
word. I rejoice at Your word as one who finds great treasure. I hate and
abhor lying, but I love Your law. - Psalm 119:161-162.
This morning on "Good Morning America", I watched a story about Baptist
students on spring break. The unusual part of the story was that they were
spending their break cleaning up houses that had been flooded by the
hurricane. The very unusual part of this story was that one of the girls had
found $30,000 in a closet when a vent came apart. The money was in good
condition and the owner who was out in the yard had no idea the money was
there. The owner was needless to say "thrilled" and the money is definitely
needed to help restore the home. (I tried to find the name of the girls who
found the money and other information but was unable to find it on the GMA
website. The information was given on the show this morning. If anyone
knows, please email me and I will include it on my website and with tomorrow's
devotional.)
Can you imagine having thousands of dollars unknown to you lying hidden in
your home? If you had not personally hidden the money, it would surely be a
great shock for it to be discovered! Just think about it - hidden treasure
in your home, unknown, and undiscovered for years and years. In the case of
the woman whose home was damaged by the hurricane it must be an even more
special find because of her great need and that it was found in her own
home. We can only marvel and praise God for having moved to help this woman
in her hour of need.
Actually, there may be hidden treasure in your home. Where? You may think
and how would you know? Because for many families across the world they have
the very same type of treasure but are not making use of it. The treasure is
just laying there waiting for someone to pick it up. What is this treasure?
It is the Bible. The words of God are a priceless treasure. The Psalmist
says it well when he says, "I rejoice at Your word as one who finds great
treasure." For surely to have access to the very words of God, the Creator
of everything, is a fantastic treasure!
Did you know that there may be another hidden treasure in your home? What
you may be thinking could that possibly be? That second hidden treasure is
found in being obedient to the words of the first treasure. As Isaiah put it
in Isaiah 33:6, "Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times,
and the strength of salvation; the fear of the LORD is His treasure."
There is one final treasure that you may not have realized that you possess.
It is not inside your home unless you are inside your home because this
treasure is inside of you. As the apostle Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians
4:7-11, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence
of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side,
yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not
forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed- always carrying about in the body
the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested
in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake,
that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh." If you
know Jesus as your personal Savior then through the Holy Spirit you have the
life of Jesus being "manifested" in your body.
It may be that some of us need to go and find our treasure! What a wonderful
treasure trove we have been given!
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