What is it that you really treasure?
Do you really treasure what you have or what you do?
Do you really treasure a person or a circle of people in your life?
How many of us would honestly say, “I treasure Christ more than anything in this life.”
If you did honestly say, “I treasure Christ more than anything in this life,” could I ask why?
What would be your reason for treasuring Christ? Is it because of what He does for you or is it because of who He is? Or both?
So what should we do if Christ is NOT our treasure?
How do we respond to the encroaching demands of life that deaden our affections for Christ?
How do we move through the fog to the mountain plateau to see and to treasure the person of Christ?
Perhaps I am asking questions that do not have one simple answer that works for everyone.
Perhaps the answer is not a three ingredient prescription.
Perhaps the answer is a way of repentance that yields a joy in and a treasuring of Christ.
When I do not treasure Christ, I must turn from what or from whom I am treasuring and turn to Christ.
For me, this involves an honest confession of my sinful choices and attitudes.
I then turn to the prayers of Paul in Ephesians 1, 3, and Colossians 1 to set my heart in line with the desires of the Lord for me.
Ephesians 1 reminds me of the hope, the riches, and the power that are mine in Christ.
Ephesians 3 challenges me to pursue with God’s strength the varied dimensions of His love for me.
Colossians 1 calls me to make the will of God my passionate pursuit.
These three passages are beautifully captured in the words of the song, “One Pure and Holy Passion” by Mark Altrogge.
Give me one pure and holy passion
Give me one magnificent obsession
Give me one glorious ambition for my life
To know and follow hard after You.
To know and follow hard after You
To grow as Your disciple in the truth.
This world is empty, pale and poor
Compared to knowing You my Lord
Lead me on, and I will run after You,
Lead me on, and I will run after You.