THE CHILDREN'S TREASURE

The Lord Jesus spoke of our being rich towards God which is something that believers, young and old, should strive after. In the thousand-year reign of Christ over the earth Israel's treasure will be the fear of the Lord. So is it for us now. It means that we refer everything to Him but not that we are afraid of Him although He is so holy. He has proved His love for us in the giving of His Son. The shed blood of Jesus is the cost of just one child's redemption and cannot be compared with even the most precious things of the world such as silver and gold. Yet gold forms part of the riches of this world. How strange that it is dug up from the earth and then buried again in vaults elsewhere! Mostly it does not pass with its value from one to another whereas the true riches of faith are kept in circulation. The deep mine from which faith comes is the Word of God and it is won by hearkening so that it may be used and enjoyed and the substance passed on to enlighten and encourage others.

If we were to come into possession of great riches the first question would be how to deal with them. In any case it is good to ponder the way in which God has used His! For one thing His rich mercy has been displayed in giving His well-beloved Son for needy sinners. Scripture tells us too of "the surpassing riches of his kindness in Christ Jesus". This is enjoyed now through the Spirit given to the obedient believer and the display of it will be in the ages to come. Then the riches of His goodness leads the sinner to repentance. This is very remarkable because we might have thought that He would use a hammer-blow to reach the conscience. If He should also do that it would still be His goodness so that the sinner should not continue his course. But His goodness is accompanied by forbearance and longsuffering. Let all take the advice given by Elihu to Job and "reconcile thyself now with him and be at peace". A wellknown hymn says 'He has waited for thee long'. Is He still waiting for you?

J.C.Evershed