Treasures
Matt 12:35 The good
person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of
his evil treasure brings forth evil. (ESV)
WHAT kinds of things do you treasure? Are they good things
that help you and others? Or might they be things that harm you and others?
Jesus speaks to us
about treasuring the good things of God. One of the ways scripture succinctly lists
those good things is Paul list of Spirit treasures: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things
there is no law.” (Gal 5:22-23) These words are often quoted, but I believe
they take on even more power when you see them in light of Galatians 5:19-21 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual
immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred,
discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions
21 and envy;
drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who
live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Paul warns against
treasuring evil because he knows Jesus has warned. Sadly, most of us treasure these
evil things to some degree. I think most of us can pick out two or three of
that list that we keep around and put into use. We may, for example, treasure
fits of rage instead of treasuring patience. We could treasure envy instead of
treasuring goodness. You get the point.
Jesus knows that
as a result of sin, our hearts are treasure chests of evil. He has come to empty
our hearts of what we treasure and fill them anew in faith that we will treasure
the fruits of God’s Spirit.
LIFE Link: Treasure God.
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