Treasuring God

I was reading Steve Camp’s blog on an entry entitled The Juniper Tree: Learning to Treasure Christ in the Hard Places. He shared a paraphrase from John Piper in which he said, ““we have taught people to submit to Christ and we have taught them the truth about Christ, but have we taught them to treasure Christ?” Steve goes on to tell about the juniper tree, the very tree that Elijah sat under in fear and trembling by the threats of Jezebel soon after he had conquered the prophets of Baal. For Elijah the juniper tree was a place of suffering, defeat, depression, fear, and the plea before God for his own life. Steve shares about his own juniper tree experience of divorce and the continual consequences of that mark in his life. He is learning to treasure the Lord though his juniper tree.

As I reflected upon Steve’s thoughts, I had to admit that by the grace of God, I haven’t walked through a juniper tree experience. I haven’t had to try to learn what it means to treasure Christ during dark and difficult times. Don't get me wrong; I've had plenty of difficult and challenging times, but no juniper tree experiences. Yet, I was pierced by the questions that came to my heart, “Am I treasuring Christ during the good times?” “Do I see Christ and my relationship with Him as a priceless treasure?”

As I allow the Spirit to examine my life, I see that I’m growing in my submission and yieldedness to Christ. I’m growing in my knowledge of the truth about Christ. I’m serving and obeying Christ. I’m worshipping Him in thanksgiving, praise, confession, and adoration. Yet, I ashamedly admit that I don’t treasure Him.

In various places throughout the Word, God speaks about his choosing of Israel and taking them as His treasured possession:

Now if you obey Me fully and keep My covenant, then out of all nations you will be My treasured possession. Although the whole earth is Mine, you will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. (Exodus 19:5-6)

For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all
the peoples on the face of the earth to be His people, His treasure possession. (Deut. 7:6)

And the Lord has declared this day that you are His people, His treasured possession as
He promised, and that you are to keep all His commands. He has declared that He will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations He has bade and that you will be a people holy to the Lord your God, as He promised. (Deut. 26:18-19)

"They will be Mine," says the Lord Almighty, "in the day when I make up my treasured possession." (Malachi 3:17)

Under the new covenant, I have become a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that I may proclaim the praises of the One who called me out of darkness into His marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9) God loves and treasures me so much that He gave His only Son. Jesus loves and treasures me so much that He humbled Himself to death upon a cross. He gave Himself up for the church to make her holy, cleansing her in the washing of water by the word. He did this to present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and blameless. (Eph. 5:26-27)

There are things that I treasure: my wife and my three children are priceless to me. On the wall in our dining room hangs four china plates that are hand painted by my grandmother who passed away a few years ago. If I was alone and our home caught on fire, those plates would be some of the first things I would grab along with several special photo albums that my wife treasures. If my wife’s wedding ring turned up missing in our home, we would tear the place apart until we found it. We would do so not because it would be expensive to replace, but rather because it is extremely special, it’s a treasure.

I regretfully admit that I sometimes treat my relationship with God more like a lost penny than a lost diamond. I have had to fall on my face before my Savior seeking forgiveness for my casualness and negligence. Now, in all my limitations, failures, and frailties, I’m asking the Lord to rekindle the flame and passion of my first love. I’m asking Him through grace and mercy to ignite my love, worship, and devotion to Him alone.

May our only goal be to know Him, glorify Him, adore Him, desire Him... treasure Him.