Time to Open the Jewelry Box

I have a lot of old jewelry and last year I decided I’d take it to a “gold party” and see what I could get out of it. The pieces I took were not sentimental, just twisted necklaces and broken rings. Some necklaces had wadded up together in an old box, but I took them as well. I couldn’t begin to tell what they were.

At the party the hostess laid everything I brought out on a cloth. She sifted through them and sorted them out. Then she pulled out a small magnet. Each magnetic piece was placed to the left in a big pile. Then the non-magnetic pieces were laid in a smaller pile to the right.

Turns out that many of the things I thought were gold and silver were simply base metals. They held no real worth. It was only the gold and silver pieces that brought money.

God speaks. I am reminded of two things. First, we have such a huge load of stuff in life that we think is important. We can’t do without them. They’re ours. They’re vital to our own personal worth. They take up time, dusting, sorting, placing, using, throwing in the corner, polishing, buffing, shining, wearing and back again. Much time is spent caring about things that are not worth a dime.

Then there are the valuable things. The truly priceless and treasured things are small in the big scheme of life. They are the things that will bring eternal value. And they are the things that, when pushed on the trash heap and set fire will be found beneath the ashes. With each fire they go through they are only more refined.

Oh beloved, take your precious, important things to the Lord and let Him sift through them for you. He will gently and generously separate them out so that you can see more clearly what is truly valuable. He knows your heart, and He knows how you want to hold on to things. Sometimes it’s for fear that you’ll be totally without. Sometimes it’s because you’ve held them so long that you don’t know if you can make it. But God says if you will give Him everything, both piles – the precious and worthless – He will make something wonderful and use you for His glory. He is able to separate out everything, even the tangled messes, and prove which things are worth holding onto.

Just open the jewelry box of your heart and hand it all over to Him today. He loves you and He’s for you so He can always be trusted to let you keep that which is most precious to Him, just as you are most precious beloved.

2 Timothy 1:14 Through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you.

I Corinthians 3:11-13 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ. Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value.

1 Peter 1:7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

Psalm 19:9, 10 Reverence for the Lord is pure, lasting forever. The laws of the Lord are true; each one is fair. They are more desirable than gold, even the finest gold. They are sweeter than honey, even honey dripping from the comb.

Psalm 119:37 Turn my eyes from worthless things, and give me life through Your word.

Jeremiah 15:19 Therefore, thus says the LORD, “If you return, then I will restore you— Before Me you will stand; and if you extract the precious from the worthless, you will become My spokesman. They for their part may turn to you, but as for you, you must not turn to them.