TEN MILLION DOLLARS IN TIN CANS!
Donald L. Phillips Ph.D.
Part I
I woke up at 3:30 AM this morning and my mind was flooded with this thought and prayer, “Thank you Father for the awesome treasure you
have given to the followers of Christ, and I know that this treasure is Jesus and His Kingdom.”
My thoughts went immediately to 2 Corinthians 4: 7. “If
you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious
(Treasure) Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives.
That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us.” (The
Message Bible)
Here is a recent news item that is pleasing the world: “Gold
coins worth ten million dollars found in some old rusty tin cans!” It tells of a couple in California who found these
old rusty tin cans containing numerous gold coins worth over ten million dollars. Most people are thinking, “I wish that was me
because I could certainly use ten million dollars right now.”
If you are a follower of Christ, you have a treasure in
Jesus and His kingdom that is worth far more than all the riches in the world. That
precious treasure is Jesus and He wants us to make Him known to a world that
desperately needs Him now.
Here is a story that helps illustrate a very important message
I am trying to convey. A very wealthy man and his son loved arts and would
travel the world to purchase famous paintings.
The man’s son was drafted into the military and went to Viet Nam. He was killed in battle attempting to rescue
his comrades. The father was deeply grieved.
A few months later a man came to visit him and told him that
he was one of the men his son saved. He
said your son and I were good friends and we both loved the arts and that he
was a portrait painter himself. He said
he painted a portrait of his son and gave it to the father as a gift. The father was amazed at how the artist had
captured the features of his son. The
father treasured the painting of his son more than the others.
A short time later the father died and his estate came up
for sale. The auctioneer presented the
painting of the son as the first item. “What
am I bid for the son?” The crowd said, “We don’t want to bid on that painting
because the painter is unknown.” The
auctioneer continued the auction. “What
am I bid for the painting of the son?”
A man from the back of the room stood up and said, “Sir, I am the
gardener for this estate. I loved that young man; he was like my own son. I
would like to buy that painting but all I have is twenty dollars. “Do I hear
thirty?” No further bid so the gardener
paid his twenty dollars and took possession of the painting of the son.
Then the auctioneer announced that the auction was
closed. The audience was enraged because
they had come from all over the world to get bargains. The auctioneer stated that there was a stipulation
in the will that said, “WHOEVER GETS THE
SON, GETS THE WHOLE ESTATE.”
May God help us know how blessed
we are to have Jesus and His Kingdom living in us. Let us share Him with the world!
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Donald L. Phillips
Ph.D. LifeCoachDon@att.net www.drdonphillips.com.
You can order his
book: “Healing Broken Lives and
Relationships” through Amazon, Barnes and Noble etc. It is available in hard copy or eBook format.
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