It’s What’s Inside that Counts

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God

It wasn’t an eye-catching container; rather ordinary, really. A young couple in Concord, California found it while rummaging through an abandoned storage unit. It was merely a container. If someone stole it, you’d just shrug your shoulders and say, “Oh, well.” If it broke, you’d throw it away without a second thought. If you lost it, you wouldn’t lose any sleep over it. 

But when they opened it, what a surprise! It was filled with rare, gold coins worth about a half million dollars. Now the container was extremely valuable. Not because it was so special, but but because of what was inside it.

Christ followers understand this perfectly. We are painfully aware of how ordinary we are in so many ways. Catch us at certain moments in our lives and we’ll tell you all of our inadequacies. That’s what sin has done to us. It has ruined us, and emptied us of any value. In and of ourselves, we’re just an ordinary container left abandoned. 

But Jesus changed everything. He lived, died, and rose again to cover our less than perfect, broken lives. We were made clean, made anew—forgiven. We are in Him, and He in us. That changes everything. In fact, it makes us priceless. Not because of what we are, but because of who is in us!

We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. 2 Corinthians 4:7