Treasure

Treasure Christ. This is my desire for you whatever your age. If you are a student, this is my desire for you. If you are a senior citizen, this is my desire for you. If you go to church on Sundays, this is my desire for you. If you stay home and never go to church, this is my desire for you. I desire that we move beyond the idea of believing in Jesus and pursue the idea of treasuring Jesus.

Digging deeper I’ll explain the idea treasuring and how in our society today it tends to reach beyond the idea of believing. First, let’s start with the idea of belief. The idea of belief in our world has become stripped of meaning. (This same idea of stripping words of meaning was happening 2,000 years ago as James articulated the misunderstanding that was occurring between faith and works, James 2:14). On Sunday mornings I feel pastors labor at restoring belief to its proper definition with mixed results. The word, belief, intended to be rich in meaning has shriveled to exclude ideas of action and love in many people’s minds. To help combat this problem, I would like to add supporting words like “treasuring” to help regain a biblical concept of belief.

Statistics report that 70-80% of students “lose their faith” when they make the transition from high school into their first years of college. This gives me fits when I think about how to build a healthy youth ministry at my current church. I try to help students find their footing grounded in Jesus as they try to make sense of the world that is wildly spinning out of control. To do this I like to think of the idea of treasuring Jesus as a compass for what I’m doing. Some of my compass questions follow. Am I teaching students to treasure Jesus? Are they compartmentalizing what they believe in from what they treasure? Am I displaying Jesus as infinitely precious in my life? Do they know that Christianity is about cherishing and savoring Jesus? Is their delight in Jesus and does their soul leap for Jesus?” These are questions that cut to the heart of the matter. These are questions that I think Jesus would ask.

I now conclude inviting you to take a final step with me. As the reader of this post I want to ask you to be bold enough to personalize these compass questions for yourself. Test yourself to see if your notion of belief is robust to include the idea of treasuring Jesus and displaying him as supreme in your life. May Jesus regain reign in our hearts when we permit him a voice to ask tough questions of our soul.

May Jesus be displayed as glorious in our humility and brokenness.