Title: Trash Can and Treasure Box
“Therefore, as we have received this ministry and have been shown mercy, so that we do not lose heart… (syncopation)… We always carry in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body. is at work in us, and life in you.”
2 Corinthians 4:1-12
When God created Adam and Eve, he made them a temple and God intended to dwell in them. Humans have to fill themselves with trash, treasure, or whatever. After the Fall, the glory of God left the human heart and filled with garbage. The devil and the world are full of them. How miserable is it that God's temple has been reduced to the devil's dwelling place?
1. Trash Can Man
Ephesians 2:2-3 says, “In those days you walked, following the course of this world, and following the prince of the power of the air, a spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience, in which we all formerly quenched our fleshly desires. and followed the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like others.”
It is the garbage of greed, covetousness, pride, and arrogance in our hearts that makes us fall. When arrogance and arrogance come in, they do not compromise with others, only they are recognized and claim that only their own words are right. If you have greed and covetousness in your heart, you will run into people because you want to take more than your fraction. If we get rid of the garbage of arrogance and pride and the garbage of greed and covetousness, the majority of people will be able to solve problems, reconcile, and live a good life. Therefore, it is very important to clean the trash can of the mind.
It is written in Proverbs 16:18, “Pride is the beginning of destruction, and a haughty heart before falling.”
A proud person does not listen to others and does not take advice. He thinks he's all right. The humble person, on the other hand, listens to others and reflects on himself by taking advice. Even if someone else's advice hurts your heart, if you listen to it, reflect on it, repent and realize it, you become a humble person. We can have peace of mind when we clean the bins of pride and arrogance. Therefore, among all people living in this world, as if a tsunami came and left garbage behind, the countless pieces of garbage left behind after the world's trials and tribulations have passed are buried in their hearts. Having this kind of garbage gives off a rotten odor and brings anxiety and fear, frustration and despair. To repent is to clean up this garbage. If anyone has a lot of garbage in his heart, he will never have peace and happiness.
2. Humans who became treasures
John 3:14-17 says, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. and that he might have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.”
According to these words, if we look at the cross of Jesus Christ with our hearts and believe, we will receive forgiveness and salvation. Jesus did not come to condemn us, but to forgive and save us. Therefore, only the cross is the treasure of hope for us. When hope arises, through the cross, the treasure of righteousness, holiness, healing, blessing, and eternal life will be filled in us. Only when we fill our hearts with this treasure can we give glory to God. Only after this treasure is filled can we be filled with faith and obedience.
Through our faith and obedience, Jesus lives in us. It is not the Jesus who was on this earth 2,000 years ago, but the Jesus who is here now. Meeting Jesus is the greatest happiness in our lives. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” When we meet Jesus, our hearts come out of the trash and become a treasure trove. Through Jesus, all the garbage in our hearts is cleared and the Holy Spirit fills us with precious blessings. Therefore, we must become those who receive Christ through faith and obedience. Also, as we study the Bible every day, the treasure of the Word fills our hearts. When we are filled with the Word, we are filled with grace and truth. This is because the Word is God.
Therefore, as we read the Bible, we meet God through the Word. Through the Bible, we meet the God who forgives us, the God who sanctifies us and gives us the Holy Spirit, the God who heals us, the God who saves us from tribulation and temptation, and the God who gives us eternal life and happiness in heaven that you can meet When the Word fills our hearts, our hearts are filled with treasures. Then, our hearts will be filled with hopeful dreams.
God has a mind for us. It is not a thought that will bring us disaster, but a thought that will bring us peace. It is God's wish to give us hope in the future. ‘I am full of hope. I am overflowing with hope.” When hope and hope are overflowing like that, your heart is pounding and you are filled with dreams for tomorrow. If you follow that dream with faith, you can say, “You can do it. If you have a belief that you can do it,” and the belief arises, your heart will be filled with joy and you will be overflowing with joy. God wants us to live this life, and He wants us to be the treasure that fills this life.
3. Experiencing change
What must we do to get rid of the trash cans of our hearts and become treasures? The first thing to do is to clean the trash can. 1 Corinthians 5:6-7, “It is not right for you to boast: Do you not know that a little yeast spreads over the whole lump? Christ was sacrificed.”
Since Jesus was torn on the cross and shed His blood to become our sacrifice and cleanse us, we have to wash away all the garbage of sin and all the dirty garbage through the blood of Christ. It must be cleaned with repentance. Emptying your trash is absolutely essential. Since it is said, “Throw away even the smallest form of evil,” we can serve God if we always come before God and purify our hearts. Whenever we pray, it is good to repent, purify, and serve the Lord in order to purify our hearts.
2 Corinthians 4:10-12 says, “For we always carry in our body the death of Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus And that our mortal flesh might be made manifest; therefore death works in us, and life in you.”
If we accept and believe in the death of Jesus as our own death, we become one with Christ as our tomb, Jesus' resurrection, my resurrection, and Jesus' ascension. If we realize it, imagine it, see it, believe it, and confess it with our lips, the life of Jesus will be revealed in our bodies. So, when we become vessels of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness and reveals the glory of God. We no longer live alone. When we become treasured, the Holy Spirit comes with us. The Holy Spirit is a personal God and has come to help us. No matter what anyone says, we have a treasure. That treasure is the treasure obtained at the foot of the cross. Even if we cannot see it with our eyes, this treasure is in our heart. If we realize, dream, believe, and confess with our mouths, the treasure will appear in front of us as a reality.
Through the merits of the cross and precious blood of Jesus Christ, we have been transformed by clearing out all the trash cans and becoming precious. If we realize, believe, and confess with our mouths, that we are now a treasure in Christ and that the Holy Spirit is with us, it will appear before our eyes. We who have this treasure will survive no matter where we put it. When we go to the wilderness, the wilderness becomes a blessed place, when we go to the field, the field becomes a blessed place, and when we enter a house, our house becomes a blessed place because the treasure within us is revealed.
-Prayer-
Heavenly Father, thank you for making us treasured and filling us with treasure. When I think of receiving the treasure of the fivefold gospel and the threefold blessing through the grace of the cross, I cannot express my gratitude in words. Help us to fully enjoy this treasure on this earth as we realize, see, believe, and confess with our lips through the spirituality of the fourth dimension.
I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.