Christians don’t have a secret to hide, but a treasure to share

Many years ago there was the beginning of the Anaconda Mining Company. It all started long ago when a group of prospectors set out from Bancock, which was the capital of Montana, in search of gold. 

After many hardships they were overtaken by the Indians who took their good horses and left them with only a few limping ponies. The Indians told the prospectors to return to Bancock and they threatened to overtake and kill them if they ever saw them in their region again. 

They felt their efforts had been wasted. Discouraged and heartbroken, they started back home. Along the way, they stopped beside a creek. One man picked up a stone from the creek bed, examined it, and said, “It looks like there may be gold here!” The others heard him and together they panned about $50 worth, a great sum in those days.

As they returned  to Bancock they vowed not to tell on soul about their discovery. No one else was to know. Quietly they re-equipped themselves with tools and supplies for a return trip to retrieve more gold. But, to their surprise, when they left to go back to that creek, 300 men followed them! 

They questioned each other. Which of them had broken the vow? Each had insisted he had told no one. When they asked the men who followed them, the only explanation they could ever find was that their beaming faces had betrayed their secret.

Christians don’t have a secret to hide, but they do have a treasure to share. We have found the true gold, the “pearl of great price,” and there is plenty for everyone. Let those around you know it, not only by your words, but by your beaming faces and your life transformed by your knowing Jesus. “Now when the leaders saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished and recognized that these men had been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13)

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 5:14, 16