IF YOU CAN SEE IT...YOU CAN BE IT! (Part II)

IF YOU CAN SEE IT…YOU CAN BE IT! (Part II)

 Almighty God is the creative artist of your eternal existence.  His original portrait of you is exceedingly bold, bright and beautiful.  Therefore, your current state-of-being does not define you.  More significant is the revelation and manifestation of THE TRUE IMAGE AND LIKENESS OF GOD that He designed, destined, deposited and designated as YOU. (Genesis 1:26-27) My friend, if you can somehow manage to SEE IT…you can BE IT.  In a word, there is hidden treasure ‘buried’ inside of you.  No thrill in life exceeds the discovery of THE DIVINE INTENTION that shapes and sparks your very existence.  This is something that is absolutely extraordinary and fascinating about God.  He hides His greatest treasures in the least likely of places: within frail, fallible, human, vessels of clay.

 As I say so often, GOD IS ALWAYS UP TO SOMETHING BEHIND THE SCENES.  It reminds me of a story I heard in a seminary class on world religions.  Some years ago, a priceless statue called “The Golden Buddha” was discovered in the city of Bangkok, Thailand.  It had been hidden in plain sight (right under everyone’s nose) for centuries.  Ostensibly, it was a plain concrete statue of Buddha, supposedly standing guard over the town square.  No one paid any attention to it.  In fact, tourists discarded their soda cans there, and rested packages on it while changing their camera film to snap the next ‘big’ picture.

 One day, a priest asked to relocate the statue to a temple in a rather obscure neighborhood of Bangkok.  His request was approved quickly, simply because no one cared about the statue.  Nevertheless, while the heavy statue was being removed, the crane cable snapped and the statue fell forcibly to the ground.  The severe impact caused the exterior concrete to crack.  What appeared to be tragedy morphed quickly into triumph.  Visible shafts of brilliant sunlight reflected off the gold that was hidden deep within the crack.  To everyone’s astonishment, inside that eight-foot-tall statue was an awesome work of art, forged from the world’s largest single chunk of gold. 

 Years before this, Thai citizens were in danger of being overrun by enemies, so they melted down all their gold and created a statue of Buddha.  Then they covered that gold image with concrete and mud to hide its enormous value from attackers.  Since all of those people were killed, their golden secret died with them and remained undetected for hundreds of years. Uncanny!

 Consider this: WHO KNOWS WHAT GOD HAS DEPOSITED AND HIDDEN INSIDE YOU?  This calls to mind the teachings of Paul, recorded in II Corinthians 4:7. “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”  Practical application?  You must look ‘underneath’ your present condition and circumstance (with spiritual discernment) to discover all that GOD has created. 

 I love what I Corinthians 1:26-29 reveals about God’s propensity to use ‘concrete vessels’ to bring forth ‘pure gold.’  “Not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.  But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.”

 So don’t be surprised if something ‘breaks’ in and around your life, so that your divine purpose and ultimate beauty can be revealed out of the depths of a cracked or broken vessel.  Look underneath and live.  

 It bears repeating: LOOK UNDERNEATH!  There are precious deposits of gold hidden there.  If I can paraphrase the words of Job: ‘I’m in a real tight situation right now.  All my children are dead.  All my stuff is gone.  My friends have abandoned me.  My health is disastrous.  My body is covered with oozing sores and death is lurking nearby.  In the middle of all this misery, my wife is losing focus and abandoning faith.  She’s telling me to curse the Creator and Lord of the Universe and just lay down to die.  Nevertheless, GOD KNOWS THE WAY THAT I TAKE.  And even in the midst of these decaying and dying circumstances, I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVES!  Deep down in my spirit, I BELIEVE that when this is all over, I’M COMING OUT LIKE PURE GOLD!’  

 Job was keenly aware of his dire circumstances, but he was spiritually empowered to SEE something else.  Therefore, he challenged himself to SAY something else.  And his subsequent RESULTS were SOMETHING ELSE! (Job 42:10-16)  My friend, IF YOU CAN SEE IT…YOU CAN BE IT! 

 Stay tuned…more to come tomorrow.

 Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed, and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET OUR SOON COMING KING.  Maranatha!