The Treasure Within
The Treasure Within
Have you ever searched for something valuable only to find it later in the most surprising place?
Something like that happened to archeologist Howard Carter and his team as they hunted for King Tut, the only pharaoh whose tomb had never been discovered in the Valley of the Kings. Carter was quite certain where to look and worked diligently for five years without any success. Finally, Lord Canarvon, the rich aristocrat sponsoring the dig, wanted to quit. "You haven't found Tut," he told Carter, "and you've looked everywhere."
"Not everywhere," Carter countered. "We haven't dug under our camp!"
He convinced Canarvon to fund one more season. And wouldn't you know it. All this time King Tut had lain in the ground beneath their tents.
MORAL OF THE STORY: How true that the treasure we seek may very well be "close to home," exactly where we haven't been looking.
SPIRITUAL APPLICATION: II Corinthians 4:7 says, "We have this treasure in jars of clay . . . " Our treasure, Jesus, is right here! How amazing that His Spirit lives inside our humble bodies, these "jars of clay."
We don't need to waste time looking for eternal treasure among the empty tombs of this world because He is "near to all who call upon him in truth" (Psalm 145:18). Jesus said, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them" (John 14:23 NLT).
And that's the greatest "close to home" treasure we could ever find!
NOTE:
In November 1922, the wait paid off, when Carter’s team found steps hidden in the debris near the entrance of another tomb. The steps led to an ancient sealed doorway bearing the name Tutankhamen. When Carter and Lord Carnarvon entered the tomb’s interior chambers on November 26, they were thrilled to find it virtually intact, with its treasures untouched after more than 3,000 years. The men began exploring the four rooms of the tomb, and on February 16, 1923, under the watchful eyes of a number of important officials, Carter opened the door to the last chamber.
Inside lay a sarcophagus with three coffins nested inside one another. The last coffin, made of solid gold, contained the mummified body of King Tut. Among the riches found in the tomb–golden shrines, jewelry, statues, a chariot, weapons, clothing–the perfectly preserved mummy was the most valuable, as it was the first one ever to be discovered. Despite rumors that a curse would befall anyone who disturbed the tomb, its treasures were carefully catalogued, removed and included in a famous traveling exhibition called the “Treasures of Tutankhamen.” The exhibition’s permanent home is the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
P.S. Another fun fact, Lord Canarvon's house is where Downton Abbey was filmed.