An
Inkling
I
love Paul’s image: We have this treasure in earthen vessels. (2 Cor. 4:7)
It explains so much about how life works – the treasure of new life in
Christ, and yet a new life that is held in a very “earthen” vessel – the
ordinary stuff of day-to-day living. And
it is so for us both as individual Christians and as a church.
Case
in point, our Elders. It’s hard to tell
from the perfunctory highlights of the elders’ meeting which we print each
month. So allow me to describe more
fully what happens at our meetings, using Monday evening’s meeting as an
example.
There
was treasure. We began with singing and
prayers of praise. Someone shared a word
from the scripture that had been tugging on his heart. We broke into small circles to pray for all
manner of needs – from the coming election, to our mission in Kazakhstan, to an
elder at home with sickness. We shared
our “God sightings” – ways we had seen the Lord at work in our midst. And we shared insights from our study book, Right Here, Right Now.
The
treasure which shone most brightly came with the visit of Liz, who made her
initial profession of faith as she shared how she had come to know Jesus. God has done marvelous things with her, and
we were deeply moved. She’ll complete
that profession of faith in worship soon.
But
also prominent in our meeting was the earthly character of our life
together. Some of the elders arrived
with fatigue and troubles pulling at them.
Not everyone is on a spiritual mountaintop when we gather. We engaged in a dozen half-finished
discussions. Arriving at a treasured
conclusion that this is God’s plan
often comes only by traversing a long and winding road, complete with barriers
and detours. And our business included
such tedium as discussing the details of a “Global Missions Policy” and
reviewing the monthly financial statement.
Paul
goes on to state why the Lord has put the treasure in earthen vessels: so that
it may be clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come
from us. You and I each, and all of
us together are an ongoing testimony to this truth. How earthen we are, both in our limitations
and our failings. And how glorious is
the treasure of new life in Christ! So
the contrast between the treasure and its vessels brings glory to him. May it be so here!
Blessings,
Keith
