Defending the Treasure

Monday, April 4

Defending the Treasure

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

Recommended Reading 2 Cor. 4:7-12

Depending on where you live, this past winter you may have joined a growing number of homeowners who installed an insulating "jacket" around their home's hot water heater--especially if the unit is located in a garage, attic, or crawl space. The goal is to protect the water--to help it fend off the persistent, relentless encroachment of freezing cold air. To the degree it is protected, the less energy the hot water heater expends to keep the water hot.

There is something more important we have to protect: the Gospel of the grace of God. That is the treasure Paul spoke about in 2 Corinthians 4:7. Amazingly, God deposited His treasure in fragile "earthen vessels" which are subject to the persistent, relentless, encroaching ways of the world and attacks of the devil. But Paul says the treasure is protected "that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh" (verse 11).

If you are feeling the pressures of life today, and if you are God's child by faith in Christ, God is committed to protecting the treasure He has deposited in you.

A sovereign Protector I have... and walls of salvation surround the soul He delights to defend.
Augustus M. Toplady

Read-Thru-the-Bible
2 Samuel 18:1-19:43

Dr. David Jeremiah

2 Corinthians 4:7-12 (New King James Version)

Cast Down but Unconquered

7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. 8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So then death is working in us, but life in you. - Bible Gateway