Treasure Hunting

This is what I have asked of God for you: that you will be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love, and that you will have the rich experience of knowing Christ with real certainty and clear understanding. For God’s secret plan, now at last made known, is Christ himself. In him lie hidden all the mighty, untapped treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Colossians 2:2-3 The Living Bible

Did you ever hunt treasure when you were a child? What a great adventure! Quartz that sparkled like diamonds; iron pyrite that you just knew was real gold. And the wealth of it was going to solve all your problems. How sad you might have been to discover that while pretty to look at and sparkly to behold, your young dreams were dashed by the reality of imitation minerals and stones.

What treasures do you seek now? Things that sparkle and shine? Where are you digging for the buried treasure? Is your map reliable?

If we will seek the treasures that are eternal, we have the perfect map - Jesus Christ, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Verse 3 of our text for today tells it perfectly, For God’s secret plan, now at last made known, is Christ himself. In Him lie hidden all the mighty, untapped treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Let's not settle for shiny imitations. Let us seek our True Treasure - the One whose light will always shine true for us.

Prayer:

Father,
            Thank You for providing everything we need for the grandest adventure of all. Help us to walk firmly in the paths You have laid out for us. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Treasure Seeking

Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near. Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously.
Isaiah 55:6-7 NLT

It is part of my plan to instruct my grandchildren in the fine art of beach-combing. I hope to impart to them the many illustrations of God the Father, and Jesus Christ, His Son, through life at the beach. 

Seek first, seek early - before the four-wheelers run up and down the beach, mindlessly crushing our treasure. Come expecting and prepared to gather treasure. We might find an entire bed of sand dollars or other treasure, and if we don't have anything to carry it with, we can't gather it all in. So we must bring a bag or bucket. We may be looking for totally different things from the beached shells, but it's in our timeless stroll that we can expound on our connection to God.

Seek Him first and seek Him early before the distractions of the day interfere with being able to see or hear Him.  Prepare our hearts to receive what He has to give and come prepared to carry it back with us. Look for Him and the evidence of Him in our everyday, walking around lives... not just Sunday or Wednesday or Saturday. And yes, it may take discipline to rise early and to come prepared to receive, but after all, what is a 'disciple'? One who has disciplined oneself. According to Webster - training which corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character.  And we all know, apart from Christ, we stand no chance of having moral character, let alone perfecting it.

What treasures are you seeking?

Prayer:

Father,
          May our hearts always be mindful of You in everything we see or do. Reveal Yourself to us, Father, according to Your Word, that those who seek You shall find You, when we seek with all our hearts. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen