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Topic: Treasure (12/15/03)
TITLE: Treasure and Clay
By Kathlyn Fauchon
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In the beginning God created us from the soil He had created out of nothing. Mere dirt, and yet He willed that we should live forever. So Adam and Eve were, by the power of God, brought into an eternal existence, sustained by “The Tree of Life”. Because of their disobedience regarding the other tree, death and decay are the enemies of our bodies, minds and souls. Good news on the one hand, lest we live forever in a disobedient state, but bad news to those who do not receive Christ. God said about the creation of man – male and female – that it was “good, very good”. How could God create anything that was not perfect? He tenderly loves that which He has created so He sent the second Adam, the one from Heaven to save us from our predicament.
If God made our bodies (and souls and minds) then He owns them. Our bodies ought not therefore to be mistreated in any way. We have no right to abuse them, they belong to Him. Because of the disobedience born in us and inherited from our ancestors Adam and Eve, we do abuse our bodies in some form or another. The Apostle Paul cries out “Who will deliver us from these bodies of death?” His answer follows immediately. “Thanks be to God, through our Lord Jesus Christ” and “There is therefore now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.”
Now Jesus gives us His Holy Spirit to indwell us. We have become the Temple of the Living God. Our earthen, disobedient bodies, these clay jars have become the Temple of God and each individual is part of the New Temple not made by human hands. We are the bricks and His Spirit is the mortar. The Temple of God should therefore be treated with the utmost respect. With His help we can begin to change our ways. I say begin because complete change will not happen until Jesus comes again.
Jesus spoke a parable about a man who dug up a treasure in a field. He immediately covered up the treasure and then went and bought the field. Jesus spoke another parable about a man using all his wealth to own an exquisite pearl. He went on to say, where your heart is there is your treasure also. At another time Jesus said that what comes out of our mouths identifies who we are and what our treasure is. Is the Kingdom of God the treasure of our hearts? Do we give all that we are and all that we have so that others can have this priceless “Treasure in jars of clay?”