THIS TREASURE

THIS TREASURE
II Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be
of God, and not of us.
We have often used this scripture to describe the
wonderful indwelling of the Holy Ghost in our lives. It
does work when applied that way, but that is NOT the way
the Holy Ghost meant it when He caused Paul to pen the
words.
Paul was talking about the Apostolic Ministry which
had been given to him by the Lord. A powerful, anointed
Ministry in a body of clay which was weak.
That was God's way of assuring that the flesh could
not take credit for what was being done through the man.
Flesh has no Spiritual qualities about it, and cannot
produce any Spiritual good.
The best it can do is to be used of the Spirit as a
channel through which He can operate, and do His pur-
poses. The pipe or flume, which brings water to the
desert, has no effect on the flowers. It is the WATER
which produces life in the desert.
The "water" of the Spirit passing through our
"earthen" clay pipes is known as the "anointing". No
Spirit passing through--no Anointing in our life. It is
as simple as that. The Anointing is produced by the
Spirit passing through us to do the job He wants to do.
We can take absolutely no credit for what is
done by the Spirit. All we can do is to make ourselves
ANOINTABLE by God.
By that we mean that God is not in the business of
anointing people who have no desire to be of service to
Him. And many times even those who do desire to be used
of God disqualify themselves by their life style.
A little craving for earthly approval, or
things which pertain to this life go a long way in
bringing us to the point of being UNANOINTABLE. Our
desire for the things of God MUST OUTWEIGH our desire
for what this life has to offer if we hope to be used of
God in His Kingdom. DO WE GO TO THE CHURCH BALL GAMES
AT THE EXPENSE OF THE MID-WEEK WORSHIP SERVICES? This
may not be sinful, but it sure tells God where we are.
Too much foreign material in the "pipe" or "flume"
will contaminate the "water" and limit its usefulness,
similar to the way lead from the solder used in copper
piping leaches into the water passing through it, and
can poison people who drink the water.
Do we have too much "lead" in our lives?