Trash Or Treasure

There is a local consignment/tag sale every October and April in my area.
The sale benefits a local play school for children, preschool age through kindergarten.
I have gone to this sale in the spring and fall for many years.

I bypass the clothes, costumes, shoes, and accessories…hoping that the young mothers will benefit from the gently used items.
I go straight to the books!

I have found many children’s books for my daughter who teaches second grade.
I have found many books for our own library here at home…classics that people give away.
Books are usually priced from $.25 to $2.00.
For someone like me, that is a treasure trove waiting to be explored.

There is also furniture at the sale, as well.
I once found a beautiful Carolina Rocker that is still in my family room.
There are odd pieces, beautiful tables, full bedroom sets, hope chests…reasonably priced.

I collect old tins…I have found some wonderful ones at the sale.
There is a toy section that all the children run to as soon as they enter the building.
There is something for everyone.

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. (2 Corinthians 4:7)

Everyone who has clay pots around their garden knows how easily they break.
Gluing the pieces together is not practical, since water would leak all over.
Broken pots are thrown in the trash.

Yet God chose ordinary…fragile…clay jars to hold His treasure.

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
(2 Corinthians 4:6)

Instead of putting His Light in an elaborate container…He chose us!
We are His representatives.

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 4:8-10)

What a privilege to carry around His Light…His Glory…His Spirit…in our ordinary selves.

Satan considers us disposable…rubbish…something he can manipulate to his ends.
Satan sets out to destroy us…since he wants to destroy the image of God in us.
He knows we are fragile.
He knows our weaknesses.

Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
(1 Peter 5:8)

By contrast…

The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. (2 Chronicles 16:9)

Trash versus treasure.
Disposable versus lasting.

They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet Him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore his chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. (Mark 5:1-5)

The man fell at Jesus’ feet and begged Jesus not to hurt him.
Jesus knew that many demons had taken over this man.
He ordered them to come out of him.

Since this was a pagan area…a large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” He gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.
(Mark 5:11-13)

What happened to the pigs would have eventually happened to the man.
Satan’s trash is God’s treasure.
Satan wants to kill and destroy the image of God in us.
God wants to keep and protect those He created in His image.

Clay jars holding priceless treasure.

Just like the consignment/tag sale…some people may look around and say “junk”.
Among the disposable items, you will find treasures…if you just know what to look for.

God knows what to look for!
Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be His treasured possession. (Deuteronomy 14:2)

What Satan wants to throw away, God wants to keep.
Keep with Him forever.
Jars of clay filled with the treasure of Him.
How a dark, hurting world needs to see the extraordinary in the ordinary!
To see the Light in the darkness.