Treasures

My daughter text-ed me as I was on my way to the lake to remind me to look for her watch that she had left on the bedside table. She had forgotten it...because out of sight out of mind....and she had thought her husband picked it up and packed it....but ends up he never saw it. I looked under the bed around the bed, in the drawers...and everywhere I could thing of....but to no avail. That night as I laid in bed...it occurred to me that I bet Catherine, her two year old confiscated it as treasure.

The next morning I tried to think as a two year old would think...not too hard for me...and decided that she would count that as treasure and choose carefully a treasured place for it to reside. So where would that be? Well, in the closet of that same room there are two big drawers filled with toys, and it is the first place the kids check out when they arrive. The drawers were chosen purposely because they are low and easily accessed and on rollers. So I opened the lowest one first...nothing, but after rearranging the books....and giving a little order to the toys...there it was...the Watch.... tucked under the cars and baby that she had been playing with! She had put it in a special place....for safe keeping...and safe it was...only she knew where that place was.

Treasures....what have we taken a fancy to that we have safely put away? What are the considered treasures in our lives? And just how well do we care for them? Protect them? Enjoy them? Share them? Use them? There is a familiar verse that many of us have heard and grown up with...that reads:
Matthew 6:19-21
Treasures in Heaven
19"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

We store up odds and ends throughout our lifetime....and so many times they are things we just don't need or want but we are either too possessive to let them go or too lazy to clean them out. But God calls us to treasure what he treasures.....knowledge and wisdom...for those are the ones He deems worthy? The ones you can not see or stash safely in a drawer? We hold onto material possessions...God holds fast to eternal ones. Ones that you can take with you when life on earth is done.

A treasure is something that we personally have deemed worthy...a treasure to one person is not necessarily a treasure to another...but as we journey into and through the wisdom and knowledge that Christ himself reveals to us...we find that our take on what we have and what we don't ...have changed. Treasures have been re-identified....and re-thought, as we allow Christ to help us grow in HIS knowledge and wisdom.

The tangible "things" of this world that we hold dear are temporary...but the intangible "things" of God are eternal. Catherine found a treasure and stored it in a place of safety...when we discover the treasures of Christ they are stored in our heart. Those treasures are what make life truly rich. Not just treasures of wisdom and knowledge...but through those treasures our treasures are multiplied....and the love and grace and mercy of Christ begins to pour out in us and through us to others who have lost their way.

We do so often leave our treasures on a bedside table of non commitment, disobedience, fear, lack of trust, resentment etc. And we tend to lose sight of where our real treasures are. They lie safely in the drawer of the body of Christ. For there, if we seek it, we will find... peace and joy and contentment that Christ safely has put in our hearts for an eternity.He will teach us of his wondrous ways, and give us his strength and restore what we have allowed the locusts to eat up..through our shame or discontent or frustration or failures. For when we allow Christ's treasure to be the treasure that we are seeking...and not that of the world's enticements...that is when we will find true riches. His treasures are there for the taking....the door to his treasure vault is opened with only one key...Believing in who he is and what he has done on our behalf...all out of the springboard of His love for us.

Dear Lord, Thank you that your treasures are available for each of us who know you and love you to keep. Help us to recognize, embrace and appreciate those treasures and keep them tucked safely in our hearts for daily use unto your glory. Amen

Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!

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www.cathyjodeit.com

The blog link below has all devotionals from the beginning of the year:

http://simplygod-cathy.blogspot.com/