There’s gotta be a banjo on the worship team in Heaven. Yep.

A treasure in the dark is still a treasure

If you haven’t seen the movie, The Monuments Men, please do.  Okay, I’m a little bit of a history buff, I love the stories behind the drama of the human experience.  But I also think it is massively valuable to understand our collective past, the sacrifice others have made to give me the life and opportunities I currently enjoy…which are many. 

So, here, in a precarious time when the military was more interested in preserving our way of life more than preserving our art, a few brave people realized that our art is, in fact, an important part of our way of life! 

The masterpieces of art went into hiding to protect them from danger, theft, and destruction.  Funny how we do the same with the “glory” that God has put within us to honor Him, to reflect Him. John Eldredge makes this very good point in his book, Waking the Dead~~those beautiful pieces of ourselves are still there, just hidden, veiled by fear, shame, misuse.  It may be in the form of a talent, a passion, or even a painful experience.  It is what God can use, and what someone else may desperately be waiting for, as well as for the benefit of the kingdom of Christ on earth.

“ But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.  For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.”

You might want to pick up a copy of the movie, Monument’s Men, and substitute the treasures that were being rescued for your own.  Satan hasn’t destroyed them (although he tries to tell us “it’s too late”).  They’re just in hiding.  Maybe it’s time to bring them back into the Light!

2 Cor. 3:16-18    Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

In other words…

“Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.  To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews.  To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.  To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.  To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.”

1 Corinthians 9:19-22  Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.