UNAWARE OF THE TREASURE
"The Mystery of the Missing Owner" read the headline on an unusual section of the Chicago Tribune on Sunday, February 6, 2005. The supplement was actually a legal notice published by the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office seeking to give money away to rightful owners--the contents of abandoned safe deposit boxes, forgotten bank accounts, security deposit checks, uncashed paychecks, and dividend checks.
More than a billion dollars is owed to nearly five million people and businesses that the Treasurer’s Office could not trace. The front page of the supplement listed the names and last known addresses of 10 individuals or couples each owed over $100,000. And what followed were 116 pages packed tightly with names from Lucilee Aakeberg to Leonard E. Zyzda--113,000 names of people all owed more than $100 in cash and/or stock!
It seems like such a shame that people could be unaware of their rightful treasures. Yet that is precisely the condition of many Christians who live without taking advantage of God’s promises of peace, strength, comfort, wisdom, love and many other spiritual treasures to which all the heirs of God are entitled. What treasures might God be holding in trust for you to claim?
From a sermon by Neil Olcott, "Our Identity In Christ" 7/9/2009