An ordinary package — taped, addressed, and covered with postal stickers. An ordinary journey — traveling by railcar the 229 miles from New York City to Washington D.C. An ordinary postal worker — delivering the package from his satchel, from which he had delivered so many others.
Yes, almost everything about this package was conventional for the USPS — everything, except the contents. Within the plain, brown wrapping lay one of the most valuable shipments in U.S. history: the Hope Diamond.
Even in 1958, this 45-carat, dark-blue diamond had a value of one million dollars. Today, that value is closer to $250 million.
Yet, for a period of time, this diamond of immense wealth was enveloped in ordinary, brown paper.
What a beautiful picture of the children of God— humble in packaging, but glorious in content. “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves” (2 Corinthians 4:7). As His children, we house the very brilliance of God. “For behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21).
Our God had been planning His move into us for a long time. Both Zechariah and the Ezekiel prophesied of His indwelling Spirit. “I will be the glory in her midst” (Zechariah 2:5). “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you…and I will put My Spirit within you” (Ezekiel 36:26-27).
You now are a “temple of God,” built for the very purpose of housing the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 3:16). “You are being built up as a spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:5). This dwelling place, this residence within you “shall be called a house of prayer” (Matthew 21:13). When we pray, “the glory of the Lord (fills) the house of the Lord” (1 Kings 8:11). Because of the outpouring of His Spirit within your temple, everything within you is automatically crying “Glory!” (Psalm 29:9).
Granted, our minds and emotions get in the way from hearing the prayer and holy worship that is going on within our inner man. All too often, we spend our time being influenced by the information from our physical senses. But when we turn our inner eyes to “look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen,” we find ourselves “with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 4:18; 3:18).
May we purpose our minds and emotions onto the reality within. Let’s “keep seeking the things above, where Christ is” (Colossians 3:1). “Set your mind on the things above, not of the things that are on the earth” (Colossians 3:2), “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:2).
“His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). He “has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). Let’s forget “what lies behind and reach forward to what lies ahead” (Philippians 3:13), by letting our minds dwell on those things which are honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute , excellent, and worthy of praise (Philippians 4:8). Let’s set our minds on the heavenlies, so that when we arrive there one day, we will already be at home there. After all, in the midst of our humble packaging, we have the Hope within (1 Peter 3:15).
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