The riches you hold in your hands are inferior to the treasures of truth you store in your heart.
Don’t you find these chapters exciting! Not so much? Well, think of this. There’s room for everyone on the team! Imagine if the only job openings in Jerusalem were for the king and high priest. Our lists would certainly be shorter, but what richness would be lost. Sometimes in the church we get the idea that there are only a few key jobs. But that isn’t the case. As Paul described it, “the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all” (1 Cor 12:7). Yes, all of God’s children are in the gifted class! In 1 Chronicles 26:20-32, we have those “over the treasuries of the house of God” (v 20). Throughout the section, we keep reading about sons and brothers. It’s so nice to see families working together, especially in the service of the Lord. But today all of God’s people are one big family. We don’t read that Paul had physical children, but he did have spiritual ones, like Timothy. Did he prepare his son in the faith to care for God’s treasury? Listen to this: “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim 2:1-2). Such truth does not come easily. They were “spoils won in battles” (1 Chron 26:27) that became “the dedicated things” (v 20) in the Lord’s treasury. In a day of great privilege (and we in the West are the most privileged of any generation at any time in history), we may assume that truth can be given freely. But truth always has a price tag. “Buy the truth, and do not sell it” (Prov 23:23), said the Wise Man. The Lord paid a great price to provide the truth; we pay a smaller though still significant price to practice it, but that’s where happiness is found (Jn 13:17)!