Twice in June, I shared excerpts from my soon-to-be-published Bible study. Today I’d like to share another. But first, if you missed the other excerpts you can go:
here for the excerpt about creating a legacy and
here for the excerpt on faith.
Today I offer you an excerpt from the week of study entitled “When Character was King”. I’ve even included the picture that illustrates my point.
In 2006 I went with a group from my church on a trip to Israel. One of the places that we visited in Jerusalem was the pool of Siloam where crews were doing an archaeological dig, looking for treasures from the temple era. As the men dumped buckets of dirt into a sieve, water was poured over the contents of the buckets and the dirt was washed away, leaving only stones and artifacts in the basket of the sieve. Anything of value was immediately taken away, while everything else was taken to a dumpster located just outside the area of the dig.
As we left the pool area, we happened upon the dumpster and one lady in our group saw something that appeared to be a piece of broken pottery. It turned out to be a piece off the handle of a tea pot or jug. We were like sharks at a crappie convention. Immediately our entire group, men and women alike, was digging through the dumpster contents to find anything that even remotely resembled an ancient treasure. Even the most refined among us lowered themselves to dumpster diving at that moment.
All too often in our current culture, we stoop to dumpster diving when it comes to our character rather than seeking out those true treasures that build a godly legacy…true treasures like honesty, trustworthiness, and refraining from gossip, backbiting and slander. These treasures only shine forth as we seek to allow God to work in and through us.
I’ll see you on Thursday for Verse 14 of Challenge 2010!!!!!
