FOODFORTHOUGHT

F O O D F O R T H O U G H T

"But We have this treasure in Earthen vessels..." II Corinthians 4:8


I remember reading a story once about a man who was exploring some
caves by the seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with
a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled up some
clay and left them out in the sun to bake. They didn't look like much,
but they intrigued the man so he took the bag out of the cave with him.


As he strolled along the beach, to pass the time, he would throw the
clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could throw.
He thought little about it until he dropped one of the balls and it
cracked open on a rock. Inside was a beautiful, precious stone.
Excited the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each
contained a similar treasure. He found hundreds of dollars worth of
jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left, then it struck him. He
had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the
clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of
hundreds of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home thousands,
but he just threw it away.


You know sometimes, it's like that with people. We look at someone,
maybe even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel. It doesn't
look like much from the outside. It isn't always beautiful or
sparkling, so we discount it, we see that person as less important
than someone more beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy. But
we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that
person by God.


There is a treasure in each and every one of us. The Bible says we are
fearfully and wonderfully made. I don't think he means just our
physical bodies. I think he means our spiritual selves, which are
sometimes hidden from others by the "earthen vessel." But if you take
the time to get to know that person, and if you ask the Father to show
you that person the way He sees them, then the clay begins to peel
away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth.


Don't come to the end of your life and find out that you threw away a
fortune in friendships because the gems were hidden in bits of clay.
Lord, let me see the people in my world as you see them today. Amen



Contributed by Terri Main (terrilmain@msn.com).
Visit Terri's site: http://www.evangelpraisecenter.org/

PRAYER

"Lord, your love and mercy know no bounds. May I trust you always and pursue you with indomitable persistence as this woman did. Increase my faith in your saving power and deliver me for all evil and harm. "

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# posted by F O O D F O R T H O U G H T @ 5:06 AM