Christ, Our Priceless Treasure
Treasure Christ. I heard this phrase when we started attending our current church two and a half years ago. At first, I didn’t give much thought to the phrase, but then I kept hearing it in sermons and other teachings. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that that’s what we Christians should be doing. Let me clarify, I’m sure if you ask any Christian if they treasure Christ, they’ll probably reply “Yes, absolutely!” I know I would have. But, if you looked at my life, it didn’t necessarily reflect it. You may have been able to tell that I loved Jesus, but I’m not so sure it would appear as if I treasured Him.
So, what’s the difference between loving Christ and treasuring Him? If you were to look the two words up in a dictionary, you would see they have similar meanings. In fact, they are synonyms of each other. However, in today’s culture, the word “love” is easily thrown around, used to express someone’s partiality towards something. It’s easy for us to say we love such and such a movie or a particular song or our favorite sweater. But to treasure something adds another dimension to it. For example, I love pictures, but I treasure the pictures of my mom who passed away eight years ago. The definition for treasure (as a verb) is “to hold or keep as precious; to cherish or prize,” (merriam-webster.com). To treasure Him is to center our lives around Him. It’s to hold Him close to us and know there is no one greater than Him.
So, how do we treasure Him? In Hebrews 11, it says, “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward,” (Hebrews 11:24-26).
Here was a man who, raised as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, had access to all the riches of Egypt. Once he learned his true identity though, he abandoned his way of life and followed after the LORD. The phrase “reproach of Christ,” meant he accepted the disgrace, dishonor, and criticism others showed towards him for the sake of Christ. Moses determined the greater wealth, or treasure, was found in worshiping God and following after Him, no matter what it cost.
The story is the same for the Apostles. They all left the lives they had before Christ to go out into the world sharing His Gospel because they treasured Him. They faced many difficulties and hardships and were eventually martyred for the sake of Christ (except John, who died of old age). Christ even warned them ahead of time that they would all face tribulation because of Him. They knew what they were getting into. They counted the cost. They determined, as Moses did, the reproach of Christ to be the greater treasure.
But treasuring Christ involves more than counting the cost. It also means living our lives in a way that glorifies Him. If we continue to purposely sin, then we are not treasuring Christ or the work He did for us on the cross. In fact, I’m not even sure you could call that loving Christ either. Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” His commands include loving the LORD with all of our heart, soul, and mind, and loving others (see Matthew 22:37-40). In 1 Peter 1:15, Peter quotes Leviticus 11:44 and reminds us to be holy because God is holy. Actions speak louder than words. It’s easy to say we love or treasure Jesus, but the fruit of our lives will truly show our heart.
So, why should we treasure Christ? Let me remind you of our condition before Christ came to save us. We were enemies of God (Romans 5:10) and children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3). We were destined for eternity in hell because we were anything but holy. Before Christ, we were without hope, and we were dead. But God. For out of His abundant love and mercy, He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for our sins. He took our place and bore the wrath of God. His blood cleanses us from our sins. His resurrection gives us eternal life. Through our acceptance of Christ, we can now spend eternity in Heaven with Him. He has restored our relationship with God so that we are no longer at enmity with Him. Christ is our hope and our salvation. We are no longer dead, but alive. We are no longer sinners, but saints. This is why we treasure Christ. At any moment, He could have decided we weren’t worth the sacrifice, but He didn’t. He rescued us. He redeemed us. He restored us. What is there not to treasure?
Let’s seriously consider the following: think of someone you treasure – for example, a spouse, a child, a parent, or a friend. How do you treat that person? How do you care for them? How does your treatment of that person differ from the way you treat others? Would you give up your current way of life for that person?
One more question for you to consider: Do you treasure Christ as much, if not more than, the person you treasure the most?
Trust me when I say I’m not perfect at this. There are days when I choose to go my way. Like I mentioned earlier, I’ve only been thinking about this concept and working on it for the past two and half years. Again, I’ve loved Jesus for many years, but I’ve had to question if I’ve truly treasured Him in the past, which honestly, is hard to admit and makes me sad. Again, if you had asked me years ago if I treasured Christ, I would have said “Yes!” but the fruit of my life didn’t reflect it. I was a lazy Christian, which is something I regret. I have found though, the more I study Christ and the more I walk with Him, the more I do treasure Him.
He is our LORD and Savior, our precious Redeemer. He loved us despite our hate for Him. When we count the cost of what we have in Him compared to what this world offers us, He, by far, is the greater treasure.
