Where do you store your treasure?

It all started when…

7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. ~2 corinthians 4:7-12~

jars of clay were used to store stuff of value or treasure in verse 7. it’s not the pot itself that is of value, it is what was stored in it that was. not the clay itself but the potter who makes it into something that is of real value.

references to other verses:

Jeremiah 18:6 - “O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand.

Romans 9:21 - When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into?

Isaiah 29:16 - How foolish can you be? He is the Potter, and he is certainly greater than you, the clay! Should the created thing say of the one who made it, “He didn’t make me”? Does a jar ever say, “The potter who made me is stupid”?

similarly to our body (vessel), with Jesus in us (the treasure), we can be broken like fragile clay jars, yet it does not reduce or remove the value of what was in inside. this is to say that despite our trials and tribulations we face in life (what people see in our mortal bodies, the jar), who we have inside (the treasure) of us will bring it to glory for Himself - that Jesus, alone, is revealed through it all.

Commentary from Christianity.com, verses 8-12:

The apostles were great sufferers, yet they met with wonderful support. Believers may be forsaken of their friends, as well as persecuted by enemies; but their God will never leave them nor forsake them.

2 Corinthians 4:7–18 explains that the priceless treasure of knowing God's glory through faith in Christ is kept in the fragile containers of human beings. In this case, this refers to Paul and his co-workers who preach the gospel. Their suffering is enormous, but God keeps them from being wiped out. They don't quit because even after they die, they know they will be resurrected, as Christ was. Then they will spend eternity with Him in a glory that will far outweigh and outlast the comparatively lightweight and momentary suffering of this life. ~BibleRef~

regardless of what i have gone through in my life, i recognize that as a vessel, a jar who can be easily broken, who i have inside of me is the absolute treasure, the creator of all Heaven and earth made me and stored the most valuable thing i could ever find inside of me. with that, in my struggles and challenges, if i live my life as a follower of Christ, outwardly i can only hope that others see Jesus in and through it all.

Father God, thank you that the treasure of your son, Jesus, is in me. may my life be lived out