Searching for Treasure
(It is God who works within you!)
Some weeks ago, I began to accumulate notes and thoughts
for a story that was to be entitled “What Manner of Man Am I.” It is an attempt
to understand the difference between the natural man, carnal man, and spirit
man. My thoughts at first were more along the generalized study of mankind as a
whole. Yesterday morning I awoke, and
for some reason known to my Lord, but unknown to me at that time, He brought
two scriptures to my mind. They were
still there this morning enticing me once again to spend time with the Lord to
see just what He might have in store for me.
Through them He seems to be leading down a different path than I had
expected. Wherever He leads, is where I
long to go. It’s always a new and
exciting adventure each time He comes to me in such a way. In my minds eye, it’s as if He has just
walked into my bedroom and bounces on my bed like a kid full of
excitement. Not wanting to waste one
moment of the day or our time together, He urges me; “Get up, get up! We’ve got places to go and things to see and
do!” Quickly, I get ready to go on another
exploratory trip to search for buried treasure.
His excitement is so contagious that it makes me feel as though it must
be Christmas morning, and I too can not wait to get started. In reality, to start on these adventures together,
I don’t have to pack a thing, and I don’t have to travel any further than my
comfy chair. The only things I must
bring along with me are His Word, my computer, a willing heart, and most
importantly, His Holy Spirit. He is the
key that opens the door and makes all of these journeys possible. I couldn’t ask for a better companion. He’s always more than willing to go traveling
with me, and the truths we find are more precious than silver and gold. My question to you is; would you like to come
along with us?
Okay, what were those two scriptures that He brought to my
mind to ponder upon yesterday and today?
To my surprise, the first was one that I had never really liked. In fact, when I had read it before, I
remembered feeling offended by it.
Therefore, if He really wanted me to look at it, I first had to take my
own advice that I have previously given to others. “If you don’t think something is true or
valid in the word, is it not better to at least consider that it is not the
word that is in error, but your own ability to discern and understand it?” If that be true, then why not turn to the one
who is the greatest authority. He will help
you open up the package, making sure that you don’t miss any of the smaller and
more intricate parts of it. He will help you see and receive the pearl of great
price that had been there all along? You
guessed it; He’s your constant companion if you are a believer in Jesus Christ. You know, the one Jesus said He would send to
indwell you and me after His ascension into Heaven? He is the one who would be our Comforter, who
would never leave nor forsake us, for the Holy Spirit can always be depended
upon to lead and guide us into all truth.
Well, the following is the package that needed to be opened
this morning and I really needed His help: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have
always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work
out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works
in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Philip. 2: 12, 13) I had no problem with the “fear and trembling”
part, as I believe that refers to the fear of the Lord. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do His commandments: His praise
endureth forever.” (Psalm 111: 10) Note
this does not refer to the knowledge of the world, but rather the godly kind of
knowledge imparted through His word. It’s
the part about working out your own salvation that bothered me. Why in the world would I have taken offense
at this? To my way of thinking, it was
giving the appearance that my salvation was something that I had to work for to
earn. I knew from the scriptures that
salvation can not be earned for it is a gift freely given of the Lord when we
choose to believe upon Christ, the only one who has the right and ability to
save us through His shed blood on the cross.
“Without the shedding of blood there is no remission.” (forgiveness of
sin) (Hebrews 9: 22) Since the Holy Spirit, through His Word, had
confirmed that portion of truth concerning salvation, I knew that there must be
something else involved in the idea of “working out your own salvation.” Maybe it was evident to you from the very
start, but it wasn’t for me.
Since it had been the Lord that brought me along for this
treasure hunt this morning, I knew to expect that He would open the eyes of my
understanding, that I might, with His help, find the treasure that could be a
key to the results of this whole exploratory adventure. There it was, no longer hidden, but standing
in the sunlight for all to see. What had
been the error that had previously hidden its full meaning from me? I had taken it out of context, thus
perverting and distorting its truth. In
order to reveal the fullness of the truth, let us, along with the Holy Spirit,
peel back the layers of the onion.
First, we are right in that salvation is a gift from the Lord through
faith. We are born again of the spirit,
no longer to exist as a mere “natural man,” for we have become a “spiritual
man” born of the Spirit of God through faith in Christ. If we began our lives after our first birth as
a baby, then the same must be true after our second birth. We all begin our spiritual life as baby
Christians, one who must be raised and nurtured under the admonition of the
Lord. Our maturation does not happen
over night, but is a life long process.
So now, what part
does this “working out your own salvation” play in the whole maturation
process? To understand that better,
let’s look briefly at the process of growing up from a baby for the natural
man. A baby is first fed milk for he’s
unable tolerate the whole load of a steak and potatoes meal quite yet. As he
grows in stature, he needs the help of others to aid in that growth. But he also has to do his part to contribute
towards his own growth. He can’t just
lay there like a lump on a log if he is ever going to learn to turn over, sit
up on his own, crawl, walk, run, think, and so on.
Like I said, others can and do help him, but very little is
going to take place, other than just getting bigger in size, if he never puts
forth effort himself to attain any kind of mastery in these areas of
growth. Therefore, does it not stand to
reason that in order for a spiritual man to grow and mature; do we not need to
know what God requires of us? These
three scriptures seem to provide a pretty good starting point: “The sacrifices
of God are a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not
despise.” (Psalm 51: 17) “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken
heart: and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” (Psalm 34: 18) “A new heart also will I give you, and a new
spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your
flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.”(Ezek. 36: 26) For a spiritual man to grow in maturity, he
must first have a humble heart, not one full of pride. He must have a spirit that is willing to
submit itself to that of the will of God.
As long as we persist to live out our lives as if we know better than
God, our hope for any growth towards spiritual maturity in Him is next to no
hope at all. A stony heart is one that
is hardened and closed off to the Lord and His ways. It is most often revealed by the attitude of
doubt and unbelief in the truth of God’s word, the truth of the deity of Jesus,
the saving power of His death on the cross, and proof that He is who He said He
was as demonstrated through His resurrection and ascension into Heaven. The natural man is more apt to be rebellious
and unwilling to even recognize sin in his life. Try to tell him that the word of God is truth
and you will probably find it easier to convince him that frogs don’t jump. He may give the outward appearance of going
about “doing good deeds,” but that is all it is - giving the appearance
outwardly, yet concealed within is a prideful and rebellious spirit. The outward semblance of God might be very
visible to the eye, but the power of God through faith is lacking within. To grow in spiritually, one must have a heart
that is ever willing to recognize, confess, and repent from sin.
Without submission to the will of God there is no hope of
becoming the spiritual man we were designed and planned to be by God. And that is where the very beginning of the
original scripture comes into play. “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed,
not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out
your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both
to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Philip. 2: 12, 13)
We must be willing to
contribute to our own salvation through the act of obedience, or a
conscious decision to live out our lives by being doers of His word and not
just hearers only. As human parents, as
we teach and raise our children, it is our hope that one day they will grow and
mature to the point when they will no longer need our stern hand over them to
stay on the straight and narrow path. We
want them to become self disciplined beings ready and equipped for life. Our Heavenly Father desires that of us
also. If we endeavor to learn of Him and
His ways, as we mature, His ways will become what is ‘normal’ to us. More and more we will be obedient to His
will, not because we have to, but because we want to. Our old ways will be cast aside, for He has
put a new spirit within us; one that is led and taught by the Holy Spirit.
It is only with an attitude of humility, which grants God
control in our hearts, minds, and spirits, that enables God to continue the
good work He has begun in us, melting and molding us more and more into His
image. God never enters the heart of
anyone without first having been invited to do so. My original concept of “working out your own
salvation” seemed to distract from giving all the glory to God; thus, exalting
the position of self above God. However,
somehow I had missed out entirely upon the relevance and cohesiveness of the
very last part of the scripture that binds it all together to the glory and
magnification of God. “Therefore, my
beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much
more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for
it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”
(Philip. 2: 12, 13) Ta dahhhh! Do you see that?
Doesn’t it make you want to jump up and shout, “Yahoo and Praise the
Lord”? Yep, I’m a kid again, it’s Christmas
morning, and the surprise package has been opened for all of us to see! Yes, I
do have to work out my daily salvation by making a willing decision to
cooperate with God in His remaking of me.
But, and here is the best part of it for you and me, who is it that is
right there with us doing the real work?
Of course, it’s God the Father who has first loved us. Here we are these
minute, frail, faulty messed up children of God, and yet, wonder of all
wonders, He has loved us first in spite of ourselves. He knows exactly what we are, but because He
knows the beginning from the end, He also knows what we can become in and
through Him. I don’t know about you, but
if this working out things was all left up to me and my own ideas and opinions,
apart from God, I’d probably make a pretty big mess of it. But for the moment, let’s give me the benefit
of the doubt. Maybe, in my own wisdom
and knowledge, it might seem on the surface that I’ve done a pretty good job of
it. I’ve attained all the outward signs
of health, wealth, and prosperity while on the inside, no matter what I gain
from the world’s point of view, I never quite feel like anything is enough and
there always seems to be something lacking.
In my feeble way, I keep trying to fill that unhappy void with all the
things the world has to offer, never realizing that I am missing out on the
best part which is what God had planned – that work that He had intended to do
in me “both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” Look
at that once again. First, He’s going to
give us the desire or will to be a doer of the word. Not only that, now that we want to do His
will, He goes another step further in that He helps us to do that which His
will. Just think about that for a
moment! God, who knows and wants only
that which is best for us is willing to work in us to create in us a heart,
mind, and spirit within us that is submitted to doing His will, and then on top
of that, it is His pleasure to do that for and in us. Why, because He loves you and me, and it pleases
Him to do so. Think of your own
children, or the ones you may have in the future. Think of the joy it gives you when you do
something special for them, whether they deserved it or not. And you did it because you found delight and
pleasure in doing something for their good.
He has said, “But as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
neither entered the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them
that love Him.” (I Cor. 2: 9) Good golly
Miss Molly, why would anyone want to pass up a deal like that? When I think of the magnitude of what He
offers to do in and through me and you, not just in the here and now, but for
all eternity, like the bible says, “I scarce can take it in.”
Remember at the beginning of today’s adventure with the
Lord, I said he had given me two scriptures to ponder on to seek out their
hidden treasures? The second one is:
“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in
part; but then shall I know even as I am known.” (I Cor. 13: 12) When I first began today’s story, I was given
a vision in my mind. It’s rather like
playing a video recording in your head, and it was even in Technicolor. Jesus is with me and we are standing in front
of one of those old Victorian style freestanding full length mahogany framed mirrors. When we first peer into it, we see a scene of
a beautiful garden with all manner of beautiful vegetation. There’s a molded
cement bench that even has a back support.
Even though it is of cement, it has curves that seem as though they
would mold comfortably around your body.
It appears as though we might go in and sit down to visit with one
another in it’s peaceful and tranquil atmosphere. But then I began to think about all of the
different pathways, some of them may even have been hidden from our view by the
lush vegetation. As I wondered which
pathway He might choose to take me down this morning, this scripture served as
a caption, written above the entrance to the garden: “Thy word is a lamp unto
my feet, and a light unto my path.” (Psalm 119: 105) The greatest treasure that you and I can ever
find on this earth is the Lord and His word.
He beckons to us to come join Him in His garden, and He will show
marvelous wonders unto us that are beyond our imagination. I think God uses this ‘video’ of His garden
to speak to my heart because He know that it has a special significance and meaning in my life, and in
the life of my brothers and sisters. If
you have read my previous stories, you will remember that I have spoken of one
of our Daddy’s favorite hymns, “I Come to the Garden Alone.” I can hear him even now. He starts the song and the rest of us chime
in to sing along with him. And Mama,
she’s sitting beside him with a smile on her face and a tap of her foot as she
dances to the tune in her heart. She is
relishing the sweet moment of time together.
Though it is truly a sweet and tender moment, and I do enjoy and
appreciate having the opportunity to be “looking into the mirror darkly” seeing “only in part,”
yet my heart so yearns for the time when we shall see Jesus face to face and,
along with the Father, Holy Spirit, and all the host of angels, we will lift
our voices to sing “And the joy we share, as we tarry there, none other has
ever known.” To God be the Glory!
Thank you Jesus for taking me down this “path” today.
“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence
only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling; for it is God who works
in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Philip. 2: 12,
13)
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