God's Treasure In Us

The apostle Paul describes God’s treasure in Christians in 2 Corinthians 4:7

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show
that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”

I have always found encouragement in Paul’s words because they affirmed what I encountered, as I sought to be faithful to God’s call to me: his work through me must pass through my own weak and broken humanity. Paul complained about his human weakness, but learned from Jesus that in God’s economy of grace, his human weakness and “ordinariness” were assets. This discovery has been an unending source of encouragement to me through the years of ministering to others while at the same time being painfully aware of my own flaws and weakness. God’s grace is big enough to make our poverty a channel of his enrichment of others! Thanks be to him.

In recent months I have been focusing on the first part of the verse: “this treasure.” Paul knew that he had been given something, something he called a “treasure,” something of priceless value, which he with all his heart wanted to pass on to others. He gave his life sharing with others the treasure he had been given, and in the verses that follow (8-12), in a series of striking contrasts, he makes it plain that he, in and of himself, has nothing else to give – he is like an ordinary jar of clay, nothing special. But, he knew that in spite of all, he had been given “this treasure.”

And what was “this treasure”? He tells us in the preceding verse: “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” (v.6) It is the “knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” This knowledge of God in Christ brought transforming light into his darkened mind and misdirected life, energized him, and gave him one dominant purpose in life: to know more of Christ and to pass it on to others. This knowledge of God not only took hold of him and set him on a new path, but it also sustained and transformed him all along the way – as he says, “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’ glory, are being transformed into his image with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (3:18) This knowledge of God in Christ, given by the power of the Spirit, not only kept transforming him, but also filled him with the unshakeable conviction that the best was still ahead!

Moreover, why have these words of Paul, about his treasure, become so significant for us? One of the questions we face at this stage of life is, what do we most want to “leave” for those coming after? What is our treasure? There are, of course, many good things we can pass on to others, but what is the true treasure to give them, that which has supreme value and which can never be taken from them, but on the contrary, will always be life-giving to them? It is “the knowledge of God in Christ.” Stated more simply, “knowing God through Jesus” is what matters most! It is this knowledge which gives access to the infinite grace of Christ, the transforming love of the Father and the limitless power of the Holy Spirit in us. We have been given, and have given, much help and blessing in many forms, but ultimately, it is the knowledge of God alone which redeems and transforms this life and which is life eternal, as Jesus himself said, “Now this is eternal life: that they might know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)

This is what our life and ministry focus on now, for however long the Lord gives us. How we thank our friends for the long and sustaining partnership with us in this calling, through your prayers, gifts, friendship and encouragements, You, too, share this “treasure” with us, and so “we all” are able to experience its transforming power and share it with others.

Thus, “the knowledge of God in Christ,” God’s priceless treasure to us means that:

1. God’s shines his light into our darkened minds.
2. God re-shapes our misdirected lives.
3. God gives us new energy to live for Christ.
4. God puts us on a new path with Christ as Lord.
5. God gives us a dominant purpose – to know more of Christ and to pass it on to others.
6. God keeps on transforming us to make us more like Christ.

Further, this “true treasure”

1. Has supreme value.
2. Can never be taken from us.
3. Will always be live-giving to us.

Praise God! What greater gift can we all leave?