Tag Archives: treasure

Culture Shock? You May Be Experiencing it Right NOW

Posted on by
Reply

There is a conflict going on all around you, and you may not have even noticed. “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” (2 Corinthians 4:7, NIV) If you’ve ever lived in another country where English is not spoken you may have gone through culture shock. Culture shock is NOT being shocked by stuff we see in another culture– it’s the emotional impact of assimilating into a foreign society.

Culture is related (obviously) to cult, which makes sense if you think about it. In any local environment, we all listen to the same news, wear the same fashions, and somewhat slavishly follow the same celebrities and customs. When we travel to another country and are plunked down into a different language and set of customs, something starts to happen…

Culture Shock

After a brief honeymoon period where everything is exciting and new, you begin to experience frustration and alienation. You can be particularly frustrated over your inability to express yourself and to have meaningful dialog with those around you.

Culture shock is like hitting an identity wall because you feel stunted and dense. You can’t explain some of the most elemental things you feel or think. It’s hard for you to share your opinions, your humor, or your feelings as effectively as you are used to doing. Your self-worth is challenged because almost all of the things you value about yourself are locked inside, hidden away unexpressed. Peter called believers sojourners and pilgrims on this earth (1 Peter 2:11), because we are aliens in a foreign land.

The Great Divide

Jesus said “that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit”, and because of that irreconcilable tension, Christians are forced to live as spiritual beings in a culture driven by flesh and the values of the world. The world adores celebrities, the kind of people who project themselves out there by any means available, who say “Don’t you know who I am?”

You receive literally thousands of messages a day celebrating the shallow and the temporary, calling your attention away from things that are actually important. But Jesus called his followers to be sanctified, to be “as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves”, and to somehow live “IN the world without being OF the world”.

In or OF?

And at this we fail. Early and often. We compromise. In churches we withdraw into holy huddles. Some church-goers reduce the amazing Christian life wherein we are forgiven and reborn to a bunch of lame “do’s” and “don’ts”. We justify ourselves, we rationalize our mistakes, and we criticize all those OTHER sinners. Believers struggle at articulating what we really feel about being a follower of Christ in a world that doesn’t always care about that.

Have you ever had spiritual culture shock? Have you felt like a hypocrite? Found yourself frustrated over being unable to express love the way you know Jesus wants you to? Ever used the usual excuses: “I’m not a speaker/evangelist/professional? I don’t like being up front, that’s not my gift, I’d rather work behind the scenes, or I’m really nobody special, God will use gifted folks for that kind of stuff…”?

culture

Who’s Who?

Ever felt like the love of Christ within you is an amazing treasure locked inside of you, but you’re just not sure how to express it? Then there is GREAT NEWS! God never intended for YOU to be accountable for that. In fact, Paul says the opposite is true. God has placed His amazing love within you so that people see it and recognize that it’s not yours, but HIS. We are only “earthen vessels”, but Paul says there is more to us than that!

The TMZ world celebrates looks, money, achievement, power, and external things. It rewards those who push their way to the front of the culture. It is designed to make us all feel like we are missing something. Paul says that it is not the obvious outer stuff that makes us amazing. It is the hidden inner treasure.

Whose Are You?

While we place tremendous value in what we can SEE, the Lord apparently says there is also great value in what is NOT seen. There is a spiritual dimension to us that enables the very Spirit of God to uplift us, inspire us, and motivate us to be different than the world. It is not so much a matter of who we are. It is more a matter of WHOSE we are…

IYKYK

You don’t have to tweet a lot, or drive a fancy car;
And You don’t have to get tattoos or try to be bizarre;
You don’t have to play guitar, or have your name on a candy bar,
Or get too far in politics, or be a senator or a czar!
You don’t have to be too rich, or be a movie star;
You don’t have to get drunk, and impress friends at the bar;
It’s not celebrity, my friends, that actually takes you far:
It’s not just who knows you that counts, but more in WHOSE you ARE.

To buy my latest book, Real People, Real Christmas: Thirty-one Days Discovering the Hidden Treasures of the Christmas Story, go here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1729034918/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
For Slaying Giants: Thirty Days with David, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Slaying-Giants-Thirty-Devotions-Ordinary/dp/172568327X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1535814431&sr=8-1&keywords=Slaying+Giants%3A+Thirty+Days+With+David
To buy my book, Beggar’s Bread, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Beggars-Bread-Devotions-Ordinary-Guy/dp/1535457392/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473336800&sr=8-1&keywords=Beggar%27s+Bread

Why Would Anybody Put Treasure in Jars of Clay?

Posted on by

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” (2 Corinthians 4:7-10, NIV)

Half-time Speech

Have you ever felt hard pressed, or perplexed, or struck down by circumstances? Sometimes it seems that life just turns against us. Circumstances knock you down, and you almost feel like giving up. I knew a coach whose speech to the team about a tough day or moment was always the same: “Men, life is hard. No one ever said it’d be easy. Sometimes you get knocked on your keister. But you’ve got to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back in there. It’s not how many times you get knocked down; it’s how many times you get back up!”

(That’s me, front row center, # 77 in your program, but #1 in your hearts: Cambridge Colts, 1964 or 5) Our coach may not have been quoting Paul, but he certainly reinforced the idea of hanging tough when life knocked you down.

treasure

More Inside Than Outside

Of course this was good advice for young football players about handling hard knocks, but Paul’s response takes somewhat higher aim. First of all, Paul says that we are full of treasure, that the immeasurable richness of God’s glory has been put into jars of clay.
Is that amazing or what? Our bodies are temporary. They can and will fail, but the very richness of God’s Spirit has been put within bodies that grow old and decline. The mortal has been invested with immortality. The corrupt, Paul says, has been made incorruptible.

We are far more than what we look like on the outside. Our Creator formed our physical bodies, yes, but He also created our spirit. Our physical bodies seem fragile, but we are spiritually strong. We may seem temporary, but God is eternal. And somehow, the fragile physical body houses the strong, eternal spirit. It seems inconceivable to us that the Lord would place incorruptible immortality into frail human bodies, but there it is.

It seems an unlikely place to hide treasure, doesn’t it? The secular world hides its treasure in bank accounts and money markets, and puts its gold in Ft. Knox. I guess that’s because men are scheming right now about how to steal what somebody else has. In a spiritual economy, however, Paul says God puts His treasure into weak, temporary structures. Our bodies will perish, but our souls are another story. There is more to our value than money, and more to God’s economy than Ft. Knox.

Treasure Where You Least Expect It

We are merely jars of clay on the outside, but since God has placed his treasure in us, we have been gifted with a new reality and new possibilities. As God’s creation, we are endowed with spiritual possibilities that transcend carnal limitations. We have spiritual potential that is not limited to what our bodies can achieve. The only way to appropriate those possibilities, Paul says, is to “carry around in our body the death of Jesus”. By claiming kinship with his death, we gain access to his resurrection, and that perspective changes everything.

Looking back on Easter, the death of Christ became the springboard to life. The darkest hour exploded in glorious light! No matter what happens to us, we are not abandoned and we do not need to despair. As Christ showed the world on Easter, the jar of clay can be broken; but when that happens it opens the door to release God’s treasure and show his all-surpassing power. Christ’s death was indeed brutal and painful, but it wasn’t final.

It may just be that God’s treasure is not meant to be hoarded, but to be given away. The power of His resurrection lives on in us, and we will never be crushed, abandoned, or destroyed. Next time something bad happens, take comfort in that. Then dust yourself off and get back in there.

Hidden Treasure

Think on this brief thought today:
We may exist in jars of clay,
And tragedies may come our way,
But few can see our inner measure,
Hiding place of God’s great treasure.
Spiritual possibility transcends this earth’s reality:
Our vessels house eternity. We are much more than you can see!
When, by God’s Spirit, jars of clay are sealed,
The resurrection’s power is revealed.

To buy my latest book, Real People, Real Christmas: Thirty-one Days Discovering the Hidden Treasures of the Christmas Story, go here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1729034918/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
For Slaying Giants: Thirty Days with David, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Slaying-Giants-Thirty-Devotions-Ordinary/dp/172568327X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1535814431&sr=8-1&keywords=Slaying+Giants%3A+Thirty+Days+With+David
To buy my book, Beggar’s Bread, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Beggars-Bread-Devotions-Ordinary-Guy/dp/1535457392/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473336800&sr=8-1&keywords=Beggar%27s+Bread
For the Kindle Edition, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Beggars-Bread-Bo-Jackson-ebook/dp/B01K5Z0NLA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1473336800&sr=8-2&keywords=Beggar%27s+Bread

Treasure is Not What You Can Measure, But it is the Heart of the Matter

Posted on by

Imagination’s Folly

What do you treasure? And how do you keep it safe? “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous runs into it and is safe. A rich man’s wealth is his strong city, like a high wall in his own imagination.” (Proverbs 18:10-11 NASB)

As humans, we rely upon physical things to provide us pleasure or protection. We often take comfort or seek solace in material things, and imagine ourselves to be secure in our own devices. If you think about it, what is your strong tower? What gives you security? Wealth, especially, is considered the answer to all ills in our society. If only I was rich, everything would be great… Then my life would be awesome.

Material Value

Perhaps because he was familiar with the fact that many rich people still have emotional or moral issues, or maybe because he knew what has real value in life, Jesus did not place much stock in material things. He never owned a home. He never negotiated a contract. After he began his public ministry, he never held a job or opened a savings account. Of himself he said in Luke 9:58, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

treasure heart

We, on the other hand, are often more like Tevya in “Fiddler on the Roof”, who fantasized about what life would be like if only he were rich (“Lord who made the lion and the lamb; you decreed I should be as I am. Would it spoil some vast eternal plan if I were a wealthy man?”).  As he trudged wearily along, he prayed: “Lord, I realize that it is no sin to be poor. But it’s no great honor, either.” Like all of us, he longed for the comfort and security of financial abundance.

You Can’t Take It With You

A rich man may feel secure because of his wealth, but Proverbs says that kind of security really only exists in his imagination. As Robert Frost said (in “Provide, Provide”), “No memory of having starred atones for later disregard, or keeps the end from being hard…” Everyone will face the end, and no one will get any help from their stuff. When we stand before God, all of the money in the world will not justify us or redeem us.

The story of the rich young ruler in Matthew 19:22-23 illustrated the vast difference between trusting God and depending on wealth. Jesus challenged him to come be a disciple, but he had other priorities. “When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Different Kingdoms, Different Treasure

He often contrasted God’s kingdom versus man’s, and when he spoke of the Kingdom of Heaven, he said, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Luke 12:32-34)

Not many will sell everything we have and give it away; but we can all ask ourselves, Will my purse wear out? What do I value the most? Be careful where you store your treasure. Be careful where you seek refuge.

Measure of treasure

Life for most means keeping score,
Depending on what you value more–
A bank account, the cash you’ve made,
Or heavenly gain that will not fade.
It all depends on how you measure
What you think is really treasure.
If your pockets are full, but your heart is not,
Then take a minute and have this thought:
Security and wealth reside, not in your stuff–but deep inside,
Where your hopes and dreams and thoughts abide…
When you stand before God, will you have your stuff?
Refining fire will burn away the fluff:
Just pray that what you have will be enough.

To buy my latest book, Real People, Real Christmas: Thirty-one Days Discovering the Hidden Treasures of the Christmas Story, go here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1729034918/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
For Slaying Giants: Thirty Days with David, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Slaying-Giants-Thirty-Devotions-Ordinary/dp/172568327X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1535814431&sr=8-1&keywords=Slaying+Giants%3A+Thirty+Days+With+David
To buy my book, Beggar’s Bread, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Beggars-Bread-Devotions-Ordinary-Guy/dp/1535457392/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473336800&sr=8-1&keywords=Beggar%27s+Bread