Grace treasures of true knowledge, correct behavior and proper control are rarely experienced. Most men live the days of their life seeing their dreams, their aspirations, and their life never achieving the perfection they desire. However, there is good news. With the coming of Jesus, you can receive God’s grace treasures because God gives grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5) with “. . . all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3).
Frustrating the grace treasures of true knowledge, correct behavior and proper control.
Long ago a warning was given to mankind. He was not to eat of the tree of the knowledge (a knowing from his own observation) of good and evil. If he partook of the forbidden fruit, it would bring a curse upon him. The grace of God would be frustrated (Gal. 2:21) prohibiting the free flow of God’s grace treasures.
Man would now live the days of his life seeing his dreams, his aspirations, his life always failing to achieve its ultimate perfection. He would become trapped: trapped in trying to obtain knowledge by his own study, trapped in trying to obtained correct behavior by his own choosing, and trapped in trying to gain proper control by his own will-power. Although he may put forth much effort, he is never able to come to the ultimate perfection of true knowledge, correct behavior, and proper control. Without the inner light of the revelation of grace, the problems of life would ultimately overwhelm him.
Man seeks the treasure of true knowledge.
The search for knowledge, the search to experience life, is innate to the human experience, the human sensations of seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, and smelling. Unfortunately, instead of living in the spiritual manifestation of God in his life, man often finds life dominated by the fleshly, the earthly. Life becomes problematic because the search for knowledge, the search to find answers for the challenges of life, is controlled by the sensing network. Ignorantly, man fails to seek the grace treasures, which includes true knowledge.
Man seeks the treasure of correct behavior.
Correspondingly, because man desired knowledge from his own observation, he is now also driven to know what knowledge is good and what knowledge is evil. He learns at a very early age that certain behavior brings satisfaction while other actions produce despair. He ponders how he can maximize his joy while minimizing his pain. The issue of good and evil, the issue of conduct, also now becomes an integral part of his existence. If man fines correct behavior in his life, he must come to know the grace treasures.
Man seeks the treasure of proper control.
Finally, it is soon understood by man that some form of control is now necessary. If the possibility exists that different behavioral patterns produce different consequences (good or evil), the management of life then becomes an essential ingredients to conquer the problems of life. Whatever is interpreted to be the good life, man learns early that there are certain requirements that must be met to obtain it. In the essence of what it means to be a human being, some sort of control is also a prerequisite of man’s existence. The proper control of life can only be found in the treasures of grace.
Problems of frustrating the grace treasures of true knowledge, correct behavior and proper control.
Wherever human beings are found, the problems of life–the problem of knowing, the problem of conduct, and the problem of governance–are also found. At the risk of being labeled to simplistic, it can be said that all the fundamental questions of life can be reduced to these three issues. How does man learn (revelation or perception)? What is to be his conduct (good or evil)? Where, when, or who directs the living of life (grace or frustrated grace)? Grace treasures of true knowledge, correct behavior and proper control are the essential elements of all life.
How does he which does not know come to know? How does one who often misbehaves change his conduct to right behavior? How does he who often finds himself out of control experience control?
The mystery of the grace treasures
Just as objects under water never appear as their true size or true location to the human eye, the true issues of life never appear to natural man as they are. They are hid to the eyes of the sensual man (Luke 19:21). Much like the threading of the finest of needles, the real issues of life cannot be seen with the naked eye.
Jesus said to his closest followers,
For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them (Luke 10:24).
He also said that many have eyes to see but they cannot perceive and many have ear to hear but they cannot understand (Mark 4:12). Finally, Jesus said,
. . . O Father, Lord of heaven and earth . . . thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes . . .” (Luke 10:20).
Jesus brings the problem of knowledge, the problem of conduct, and the problem of governance into focus with a simple, yet, dynamic statement. He answers the three basic drives of man (to learn, to behave, and to be under control) with “I am.” In a fundamental tenet of true Christianity, he declared,
I am the way, and the truth, and the life (John 14:6).
God sends his grace treasures to you for the problems of your life. When your heart turns to Jesus, and Jesus alone, you will find solutions for your troubles, your perplexities, your persecutions, and your put-downs. God’s grace treasures to you is good news. Jesus is coming . . . Jesus is coming now into your need to give you true knowledge, correct behavior and proper control.
