To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. – Colossians 1:27

Today's Scripture Reading (April 16, 2021): Colossians 1

Brian Potter and Dennis Lambert wrote the anti-war song "One Tin Soldier" in the late 1960s. The song tells the story of two groups of people.

Listen children to a story
That was written long ago
About a kingdom on a mountain
And the valley folk below

The story tells of a treasure on a mountain that the mountain people possessed, and the valley people wanted to take the treasure for themselves. And so, they sent a message up the hill demanding the treasure be delivered to them, and in response got a letter from the mountain kingdom that they were willing to share whatever it was that they possessed that the Valley folk desired.

But the message enraged the people of the Valley, so they formed an army and climbed the mountain, intent on making the treasure their own. And they stormed the kingdom, killing everyone they could find.

Now they stood beside the treasure
On the mountain dark and red
Turn the stone and which beneath it
Peace on earth was all it said

In the act of taking the treasure, they had actually destroyed it. The gift was the peace that reigned between the mountain and valley populations before greed took over and destroyed the undervalued treasure. It is a story we need to remember more often than we do.

Paul writes to the Colossian Church of the "glorious riches of this mystery." The words themselves are enough to get us ready to start on a treasure hunt to find the riches. In fact, some have. I have been asked a couple of times where the room might be in the church that houses the mysterious artifacts and glorious riches. When someone breaks into the church and ends up stealing the sound equipment, I often wonder if they were really looking for the glorious riches they believed were hidden somewhere in the church. But they couldn't find the room that hides the riches because they just aren't there. Our treasure is something else.

Paul describes the nature of the glorious riches to the Colossians. It is "Christ in you." When we look in the mirror, it is Christ that we should see peeking back at us. The treasure is that God is making a change in this world, not by some massive political movement, but by changing who we are.  

Michael Jackson sang "Man in the Mirror," a song written by Glen Ballard and Siedah Garrett. The song was about changing the world by deciding to change ourselves.

I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could've been any clearer
If they wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make a change

We can't change the world. I get that. But we can change our world by making a change in ourselves, being the change that we want to see in the world. Change always starts with us.

It is a truth that God has understood. And he has buried his glorious riches in us, his most precious asset. Christ has hidden himself in us so that we can begin to shape our world.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Colossians 2