Treasure in Jars of Clay


chasinblog2.jpgNovember 17, 2016 (Thursday)

One of my blogs this week featured a link to Bing Crosby’s
singing a couple of old songs. As I listened to him sing those songs, I thought of others he sang in movies, and one of them was, “Moonlight Becomes You.” For some reason I
remember his standing outside his sweetheart’s window and singing that beautiful song: “Moonlight becomes you, it goes with your hair. You certainly know the right things
to wear.”
As I thought of that scene, I recalled where I was when I saw and heard it. I was in the old Northside Theater on Quitman Avenue in Houston. I was about 10 years old, I think.
I rarely went to that theater. It was an old wooden building that resembled a barn. How could such a beautiful song come from such an ugly place?
I suppose that was the question Paul asked himself when he thought of “treasure in jars of clay” (“..we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” [2 Corinthians 4:7 NIV]).

jarsofclay.jpg

He explained, “For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of
darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:5-6 NIV).
A great movie in an old barn? Yes. A wonderful message of salvation shared by sinners saved by grace? This is truly “treasure in jars of clay.”