by Nancy Taylor Tate
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” 2 Corinthians 4:7
In this life, our relationships range from strangers, to acquaintances, to friends, to best friends, or even to a very best friend with whom we share our lives. Our interactions vary depending on the level of relationship we are engaged in and the amount of trust built.
Through God’s word we know that Jesus is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.
“A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” Proverbs 18:34
God loves us with a love that cannot be measured. Paul prayed that we would come to know His love, and that His love would dwell in our hearts.
“That Christ would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, That ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” Ephesians 3:15-19
What beautiful scriptures to pray into! We also know from scripture that God will never leave us, nor will He ever forsake us.
“For he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Hebrews 13:5c
Jesus also prayed that we would know the love of God. God’s desire is for us to know Him and to become one with Him.
“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” John 17:20-23
From that place of oneness, we come to know not only the unconditional love of God, but His approbation.
“I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.” Song of Solomon 7:10
We have submitted our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ and have allowed His workings within our hearts. As we yield our lives to His workmanship, there comes a change in us.
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20
From this place of oneness He invites us to join Him in that which He is doing today, as His eternal purposes continue to unfold.
“Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my loves.” Song of Solomon 7:10-12
What a calling! How does this progression of growth come in our relationship with the Lord?
The more honest and transparent we are with Him, the deeper God can work in our lives; the more He works within our lives, the more we become one with Him. Christ can be seen in us, and His power can work through us.
As we yield to Him and grow to more deeply know Him, there is a joining together that can come no other way than through personal relationship.
Charles Finney, in writing about personal revival, talks about allowing the Lord to search our hearts, breaking up the fallow ground that there might come a deeper experience of Christ within.
David said it in the Psalms like this:
“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139:23-24
Wade Taylor, when talking about the beatitudes in Matthew 5 said, “we are not called to just become ‘polished’ on the outside (religious). But rather, to be so changed within, that we become the expression of the life of Jesus (spiritual).”
As the Lord works within our hearts and lives, we can become increasingly transparent, for it becomes Jesus who is seen in us, no longer hid behind all the rubble.
We have a treasure in these earthen vessels! May this treasure become fully visible and operative in each of our lives as we continue to grow ever closer to the Lord, spending time in fellowship with Him.