Wisdom Wednesday: The Treasures of Wisdom
Submitted by Debbie’s Dad
“For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,”
(Col 2:1–3 NASB)
I recently completed a documentary about the life of my great-grandparents. Their family name was Hard, and they lived in Ohio in the mid to late 1800s. They were godly people and I still have in my possession some of their Bibles with inscriptions that indicate their faith. To document their life, I had to conduct extensive research and integrate old pictures and letters handed down from my family, old newspaper articles, old maps that show where their property was located, and old books that provided information on their ancestry.
I pieced together many facts about their lives that my family never told me. For example, I figured out that my great grandfather Henry Harrison Hard (known as H.H. Hard) was named after William Henry Harrison, a well-known military officer, politician, and the ninth President of the United States who died on his 32nd day as president. Known for his success at the Battle of Tippecanoe (Spring of 1812) and other military successes, he was a national hero. H.H Hard was born in 1842 shortly after the untimely death of President Harrison in 1841 and was most likely named because as a military officer, William Henry Harrison freed Ohio for the expansion that allowed the early Hard family to be safe from Indians as they moved West to Ohio from Connecticut. Finding that information and much more was like finding buried treasure about my family!
In today’s passage, Paul describes his desire for the believers to discover a valuable treasure (as I did). He explains his longing for the new believers at churches in the cities of Colosse and Laodicea. He was particularly concerned that those we had not yet met face to face would be encouraged and would gain a particular kind of wealth obtained as a treasure.
That wealth included:
- a complete and confident understanding of who Christ is, and
- a full and accurate personal knowledge of Christ Himself
This is because in the knowledge of Christ–as God’s Son and as Redeemer and as a Person to walk with–is a treasure that holds both wisdom and knowledge to live. The remaining chapters of this book provide practical instruction on living the Christian life. But this is all built on the foundation of the treasures we find in Christ.
What a delight to find treasure. And what spiritual wealth we can discover as we seek to know Christ in Whom is found the treasures of spiritual wisdom and knowledge!