The living, the living, he thanks you,
as I do this day;
the father makes known to the children
your faithfulness. – Isaiah 38:19
And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” – Matthew 13:52

Have you ever made a discovery that sets your heart on fire? You learn how to solve the Rubik’s Cube, and you want to tell everyone about it. You discover a new computer game and you can’t wait to tell your friends. You find a song and recording artist, a new TV series, or see a movie you want everyone to know about. You just can’t contain yourself.
When you learn a totally new way of life (how to get out and stay out of debt, or how a radically-different diet can change your whole life) and everything becomes new. You have new ways of processing desires and needs. You find different ways to prepare or even shop for food. There is simply a new and different way of looking at life. Things that didn’t matter to you previously you now value deeply. Things that were so important yesterday can go to the dump.
So it is when the mysteries of God’s love take hold in a person’s life. That’s not to say that prior to this new discovery, one is not saved. It may well be that one will enjoy the abundance of God’s grace here and in eternity. But when we have been trained for the Kingdom of God, when we take the Gospel so seriously that we study it, try it out in new areas of life previously untouched by God’s grace new discoveries abound. Have you ever thought of applying the Gospel to the way you keep house, or where you live, or what you buy at the store (not the law’s sense with its admonitions of “do this and don’t do that”, but in the freedom of grace and delight in God’s love)?
It’s one thing to profess faith in Jesus Christ. It’s one thing to acknowledge that Jesus is your Lord and Savior. It’s one thing to pray to him, worship him, and even serve his church. It’s quite another to embrace God deeply and to discover the depth of his love and the glory of his grace. As we do that – through study of his word, adventures of faith, and pathways of obedience – we will discover all kinds of things that we had not previously valued. Those will not be discovered by a casual faith in Jesus. His desire, however, is to help us discover new and old treasures in the storehouses of our hearts and souls, and to delight in how Jesus makes all things new.
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