My friend, Kelly loves candlesticks. She has a collection of different crystal candlesticks on her dining room table and it is a beautiful collection. Most of the collection, she purchased at yard sales.
She loves to go to yard sales. She will plot out her course the night before and wake up really early on a Saturday morning eager for the hunt to begin. She has found some amazing things at yard sales and paid pennies for them. Kelly knows the outward appearance of something doesn’t always reflect the value of the item.
At one particular home, she was rummaging through a box and came across a pair of wax coated candlesticks. She could tell they were either glass or crystal because a glimpse of the candlestick showed through here and there. She ran her fingernail around the base of them to make sure they weren’t chipped. Once she determined they were not damaged, she paid the asking price, $1 for the pair, and took them home. She began the process of cleaning the wax off of them. As the wax began to fall away, she was shocked at how stunning these candlesticks were. She scrubbed and scrubbed trying to get every last bit of dirt and wax off of them. She had all but one little spot clean and it didn’t appear it was coming off. It was then she realized the mark was writing, not wax. She looked at it closely and almost dropped the candlestick in her hand when she read the word: Waterford. She had just paid $1 for a pair of Waterford Crystal Candlesticks.
Kelly knew what she had to do. She put the clean candlesticks back in her car and drove to the house she purchased them. She approached the older woman in the driveway who was hosting the yard sale and asked her if she knew what she had sold. The older woman smiled and said she was aware of what she sold and said anyone willing to work to get the candlesticks clean deserved them.
Sweet friends, Jesus is always looking for treasure that may have gotten coated in muck along the way. He recognizes the value of the treasure, even before it is cleaned up. He is patient and willing to take the time to clean all the dirt away, because He knows when He is finished, He will be looking at something far more valuable than a pair of Waterford Candlesticks. He will be looking at you or me.
What do you “see” when you look at those you encounter throughout your day? Are you able to see the treasure deep inside, or are you too busy focusing on the muck that might be covering a priceless work of art? 1 Samuel 16:7 says, “The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” What are you looking at?