Hidden Treasures

We have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.
-2 Corinthians 4:7 (NRSV)

IN the natural history museum we visited in Washington, D.C., our son's favorite section was an extensive geological exhibit. Its first display consisted of rocks found in deep, cold, dark, and practically forgotten places. The next showed rocks of incredible shapes and sizes, filled with exquisitely colored crystals created by heat pressure deep in the earth. Farther along in the exhibit were more common rocks - discolored or malformed or hollow. Upon closer inspection, however, I could see in them the beginnings of the beautiful colors of delicate, polished, fine crystal.

As I admired these wonders, I could sense what God already knows: this is the way we may appear, as common rocks shaped by the experiences of life's trials and challenges. But inside us lies a treasure waiting to be formed and polished by the very same pressures of the struggles that mark our everyday lives.

If we persevere, that treasure is perfected so that others may see our example and be drawn to Christ. Instead of deforming us, our struggles can refine us, shaping us into better servants of God.


Prayer
Lord, help us to see how struggles in our lives can help us grow and make us more like Christ. Amen.



From: UpperRoom Devotionals - Miriam Piñero