The Greatest Treasure
There is nothing in our human experience of value to compare with the greatest of all treasures. This Treasure is received and held in the most earthen of all containers. This vessel was created by a masterstroke but then invaded and contaminated by a dark invasion of evil. This earthen vessel became a conveyer of darkness so that every offspring has been shaped by evil and darkness and has spawned millions of like-vessels. There are now billions of vessels in GodÂ’s beautiful universe, and most of them reject the one Treasure that would make the unclean vessel into a temple of matchless beauty.
This Great Treasure is so beautiful and powerful that His presence in an unclean life immediately transforms that life into a renewed creation. The intellect is cleansed and purified to become a seeker after the greatest of all wisdom. Unclean imaginations become a well of unspoiled thirst after the original design of that ancient creation. The Treasure inside transforms the container of the Treasure. This Treasure becomes the “pearl of great price” to the possessor. Every prior possession is immediately devalued to become unnecessary or at least the second rated. This great Treasure is so priceless that the possessor explodes with sheer joy.
Without competition, this Treasure is the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything that life is or stands in need of — He is sufficient to supply. He is a source of life so far superior to mere existence on the animal level of sinful living that its like darkness turned to sunshine. He floods the vessel that was so void into a spring of living waters. This living water is invisible to the eye, but its effect is like sunshine at midnight. He is not just the water of life; He is the Bread of life. His living word will feed the vessel, and the vessel will quickly grow into a temple.
The Treasure’s Spirit has been sent to fill the renewed vessel where He dwells. He fills the vessel with all the nature of the Treasure until the Treasure becomes this possessor of the vessel. He turns an earthen house into a Holy Ghost center of blessings. He takes the unclean from the darkness of godless living to the beauty of Holiness. “He will beautify the meek with salvation” (Psalm 149:4). The Treasure shines out of the temple to manifest this Treasure to the world of empty vessels.
This Treasure must remain the focus of the vessel that has now become the temple as we await His coming in person. There is no room to magnify the earthen vessel and ever allow pride to develop. We hold this treasure in our earthen house and must remember the words of Scripture, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” (2 Corinthians 4:7).
There is no time in this pilgrimage to ever become haughty or high-minded. The Father that sent the Treasure has ordained our lives for troubles and sorrows so that we never value anything above the Treasure. “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body” (2 Corinthians 4:8-10).
Rejoice when you are heavy laden and face the enemy of this Treasure you possess because the Treasure Himself will sustain you. He walked this path before you began your walk, and He knows the weight of every load. There will be tension between the Treasure and the earthen vessel, and its up to you to make sure He rules in every battle. The Treasure is intimately connected to a cross. ItÂ’s a cross that became a crown but only after it was carried to the hill. Wear your cross like a statue of liberty and be faithful to His Holy Covenant, the Bible. When the battle is over, you shall wear a crown, sometimes now but always in the future. The Treasure has promised, and He cannot fail. He is the Eternal Son of God.