Buried Treasure

sunken-treasure-shipTreasure hunters have recently recovered 1,ooo ounces of gold worth 1.3 million dollars from a ship that was wrecked during a hurricane in 1857. The ship was carrying 21 tons of freshly minted gold coins and raw gold from the mines in California. All of that treasure sank with the ship and until recently has remained at the bottom of the sea.

Treasure is of no value unless it is discovered.

For mothers of young children whose lives are consumed with:

  • sleepless nights because your child is scared of monsters in the dark
  • piles of dirty laundry that seem to rise up and judge you
  • incessant fights between siblings over which DVD they’ll watch
  • cleaning up the juice box spill when your child squeezed it and sprayed the headliner of your van
  • trying to cover up the fact that you have had no time to shower…again.
  • unending tears due to an earache that your pediatrician tells you has nothing to do with teething,

buried treasure is of no interest and can stay buried! The ship of a mother’s life is directed at surviving the preschool storms of the day and at arriving in the calm waters called “bedtime.” If there is treasure lying below the surface of her sea she is often too tired to want to explore it!  How would a Mom’s life be changed if she “accidently” found that there is treasure very near her?

 God’s kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field for years and then accidently found by a trespasser. The finder is ecstatic—what a find!—and proceeds to sell everything he owns to raise money and buy that field. 
Matthew 13:44

The apostle Paul was ecstatic when he discovered a treasure in this life of such surpassing greatness that all other pursuits paled in comparison. In fact he proclaimed,

Yes, furthermore, I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege (the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage) of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him [of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly]. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish (refuse, dregs), in order that I may win (gain) Christ (the Anointed One)
Philippians 3:8

Oh young mothers, please do not waste your time thinking my goal is to heap on more “Mom guilt” because you are not able to find the time to sit quietly with coffee and your Bible in this season of life. No, I am not calling you to anything that requires you to expend more planning effort. What I am calling you to is a perspective change. I am calling you to realize that as you navigate the beautiful mess that is your life, the life that seems to be ruled by a preschooler who thinks they are king, that you live aware of the real truth–the ecstatic truth–the most valuable and empowering truth. Precious treasure is very near every moment of your day. The treasure is your caring King who brought you into His kingdom for your good and His glory!

“The Almighty himself will be your treasure. He will be your precious silver!

Job 22:25

Treasure is of no value unless it is discovered.

 

 

 

Pleasure Seekers

3803641762_0dce488fdaTo many people, the pursuit of pleasure and being fully devoted to God are mutually exclusive endeavors.

If we are truthful we are people who believe that pleasure is found anywhere and everywhere but in God.Yet the testimony of Scripture is that pleasure is found only in pursuing God.

Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.  Psalm 37:4

I said to the LORD, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.” Psalm 16:2

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Hebrews 11:6

Jon Bloom writes

Pleasure is the meter in your heart that measures how valuable, how precious someone or something is to you. Pleasure is the measure of your treasure. If something sinful gives you pleasure, it’s not a pleasure problem. It’s a treasure problem.

What lesser treasure have you settled for?  What lesser treasure has failed to sustain your happiness and sent you on a search for new pleasure?

Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4

 

Pleasure

is

the

Measure

of

your

Treasure!

Moses’ Prosperity Doctrine

By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

He considered abuse suffered for Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to the reward.

By faith he left Egypt, unafraid of the king’s anger; for he persevered as though he saw him who is invisible. (Hebrews 11:24-27)

learnenglish-central-stories-treasure-story-330x220 Talk about a radical reorientation to everything that we think in the natural!

  • Who wouldn’t want to be known–isn’t fame the greatest treasure?
  • Who wouldn’t want to have the place of son in the royal family–isn’t celebrity and having people look up to you a major rush in life?
  • Who wouldn’t want to be well thought of and treated well–isn’t good treatment our just desserts?

Continue reading “Moses’ Prosperity Doctrine”

Better is One Day…

home For the last 5 years, my family has lived in homes owned by someone else.

Since living in rental property, my heart has longed for what I do not have–a home. I have woven such a fantasy centered around having a Norman Rockwell type dwelling that it astounds me.

This morning as I read Psalm 84 God met me with the sweetest enticement to think new thoughts about this circumstance. He met me with the dearest compulsion to rethink the truth about “home.”

First, He questioned me about where I really thought I would feel most at home.  Then He pressed me to examine why I want a place of “my own.” With the motives of my heart dredged up and the most demanding functional god identified, my eyes began to savor the words of psalmist.

New thoughts flooded my mind when He had me consider the perspective of the writer of psalm.

How lovely is your dwelling place,
O LORD Almighty.
I long, yes, I faint with longing
to enter the courts of the LORD.
With my whole being, body and soul,
I will shout joyfully to the living God.

This was one who wanted to be at home in God.  This was one whose thirst was not for an abode that would be a show place of what he could acquire on his own. This was not a person who thought security, satisfaction and comfort was found in an independent dwelling.  He desperately wanted to be where God’s glory was on display!  This writer felt deprived–exiled from the best home ever–the Presence of God.

A single day in your courts
is better than a thousand anywhere else!
I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God
than live the good life in the homes of the wicked.

Augustine said, “If you have a house of your own, you are poor; if you have the house of God you are rich.  In your own house you will fear thieves; in God’s house God himself is the wall.  Blessed, then, are those who dwell in your house.  They possess the heavenly Jerusalem, without distress, without pressure, without diverse and divided boundaries.  All possess it; and each singly possesses the whole.”

mth-glsPraise God–today I can say and believe, I am not homeless, I have a true home and it is my God!

Jack Miller wrote, “If you have made your home this world and whatever you can possess in it you are always in danger of being plunged into insecurities, fears, and losses.

But make God your dwelling place and you have unlosable treasure.”

What’s better than life?

I began my morning reading the Mission Network News report.  As I scanned the stories, this one from Africa caught my eye.  The study of Acts has tenderized my heart once again to the truth that the spread of the good news of Christ comes at great cost.  Therefore, it is news of great worth!

Two Christians killed in Northern Nigeria

Nigeria (MNN) — Voice of the Martyrs Canada reports the deaths of two young Christian men in Nigeria. According to a Compass Direct report, the pair died at the hands of Muslims militants in Kaduna state. Local Christians believe these two murders are an effort to wipe out Christianity from northern Nigeria and stop ministry growth. Although the government is trying to initiate dialogue between the two faith groups, their efforts have been undermined by the wave of violent attacks on Christians.

Full story: http://www.MNNonline.org/article/10522

My mind considered the stories of Stephen who was the first Christian martyr and James who was beheaded for his faith in Christ.  These saints and others seemed to understand what the Psalmist meant when he penned the words, “Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.” (Ps. 63:3)

The martyrs all believed Christ was worth more than life, more than falling in love, more than marrying and having children, more than seeing their children grow up, more than making a name for themselves, more than having the dream spouse, the dream house, and the dream cruise.  Christ to them was worth more than all their plans and dreams.  They all said, “It is better to be cut off in the midst of my dreams, if I might gain Christ.” ((John Piper, “Life’s Blood,” Tabletalk December 2001, p. 53))

Christ is the treasure that is better than life!  He is real life.