Somebody gave me a big box of chocolates last week. I was so excited. Chocolates, man. It was one of those boxes of chocolates with the map in the lid. To me? That lid diagram was a treasure map. There are times when there’s nothing sweeter than digging for treasure.
But then something really awful happened. I got sidetracked and forgot to take the box out of the car. A few hours baking in the car and instead of a box of chocolates, I ended up with one big chocolate. There’s a lesson learned. A sad one. I’m tearing up just thinking about it. That won’t happen again. It’s just too sad when good chocolate treasure goes bad.
Spiritual lessons are a much greater treasure. Learning on the spiritual side should always be based in God’s truth. And any time we refuse to learn, we have to go another round with that lesson. More melted chocolate. Now that gets messy.
How it must break the heart of God when we get messy, slow to learn spiritual lessons—when we’re so slow to obey his Word. First Peter 1:13-14 says, “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.”
How often do we forget about self-control and turn back to that old way, conforming to the evil desires we had when we lived in ignorance?
Are you ready to take action? Are you ready to commit to learning whatever your Father wants you to learn? Are you ready to choose obedience? Ready to commit to right choices? Ask the Lord to open your eyes to the old paths of sin. Sometimes those old paths are well-worn and easy to slip back onto. Ask him to give you the wisdom to choose well. You can. You can choose well, even without a map in the lid. When you ask for wisdom, He will answer.
You’ll find that the most valuable treasure of all is found in knowing Him, loving Him, serving Him, bringing glory to His name. The most precious treasure is Christ. Paul tells us in Colossians 2:2-3 that he wants us to have complete confidence in complete understanding of God’s plan. God’s plan? Our richest treasure, Christ Himself! “In Him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,” Colossians 2:3.
So let’s treasure Christ and the life He gives. Let’s live in self-control, under His control! It’s the only way to live a life of peace, fruit, joy, success. And it’s the only way to live that doesn’t get oh so messy.
And back on the chocolate side, I have to say that I discovered a silver lining in the melting incident in my car. Sort of a chocolate-covered silver lining, really. See, now that it’s one big hunk, I can eat the whole pound and still tell people I only had one piece.
by Rhonda Rhea / Contributing Columnist