Struck Gold!

2 Corinthians 4: 13-18 (MSG)

13-15 We’re not keeping this quiet, not on your life. Just like the psalmist who wrote, “I believed it, so I said it,” we say what we believe. And what we believe is that the One who raised up the Master Jesus will just as certainly raise us up with you, alive. Every detail works to your advantage and to God’s glory: more and more grace, more and more people, more and more praise!

16-18 So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.

While on our trip through beautiful Alaska, I was able to pan for gold.  This process is one many of us have seen either in movies or documentaries.  However, experiencing it was amazingly exciting.  We were given a pan that had a mixture of sand, rock, and other sediment.  Within this mixture was pure gold that could not be seen.  Shaking the pan in a certain manner brought the gold to the bottom of the pan.  Then came the tricky part, we had to dunk our pan repeatedly in the water to get the sediment to filter out.  What kept the gold in the pan is that it is 18 times heavier than water.  Some people where caught picking through their pan, trying to find the tiny specs of gold.  THEY DIDN’T TRUST THE PROCESS.  After some time of dipping and dunking, it was time to swirl gently and in a particular way.  Slowly and suddenly the gold started to appear at the top of our pans.  

God weighs down our treasures.  Sometimes we can see it with our own eyes, but most times we have to go through a process to find the treasure.  This process is necessary in our growing and swirling relationship with Him.  But in the end the difference between panning for Earthly gold and His gold - there is only 1 that is a 100% guaranteed to strike gold.

Be Blessed!