“There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone that Moses put there at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the people of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.” – 1 Kings 8:9
What’s in your ark?
It’s a funny question. I don’t have an ark at home. I mean – I do have a big box around. But an ark is a bit more than that. It’s a chest – not for storing anything, but for storing certain special things that deserve their own place.
Like if you had been given something important by God himself. That’s what Moses had in that ark.
The two tablets of stone – those were the original 10 commandments, given by God to Israel through Moses so that they would know how to live their lives in a way that was pleasing to him. That was something worth keeping in a special, holy place – in an ark.
So what’s in your ark?
What’s so important to you that you set it aside, take special care of it, have a particularly special place for it. Remember – we’re probably talking about something in your heart, not in your flat.
But there’s another way to ask: What’s the best gift God has given you? What do you cherish the most? No thinking – answer quick. Because what comes to mind – that might just be what’s in your ark. Your family? Your successes? Your comfortable life? Are these the things you think of when you think of God’s gifts to you?
Is that what’s in your ark?
Those things are God’s gifts to you. But there’s really only one thing that belongs in your ark. It’s the only thing that really makes you God’s child and God your heavenly father. Anything else can disappear, and nothing changes between you and God. But this one thing you can’t take away:
Jesus Christ should be in your ark. Or even more specifically: his death and resurrection – that’s what belongs in your ark. It’s not just the greatest gift ever given, and it’s not even just the fact that it really has been given to you. It’s the gift that you can rely on when everything else could fail you, and when you happen to be enjoying the other gifts, it’s the reason for that too.
Jesus Christ belongs in your ark, because he’s the one who made you into God’s child, who took away all of your sin and gave you a new life to live and a new heart to praise and trust in God.
Of course, as long as the old heart sticks around, you’ll always find yourself stuffing other things into the ark – things that are nice, things that are gifts from God, but things that don’t belong in your ark. The Christian thing to do is to go sniffing around there once in a while. Then take out what doesn’t belong. And then you should see more clearly than ever what remains: Jesus Christ, God’s greatest gift for you.