CHRIST Our Treasure

 

Still Brewing 

Philippians 1:6, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Romans 12:2, Hebrews 10:14, Colossians 3:10, 2 Peter 3:18

☕ Justified in CHRIST and continually being sanctified - we are still brewing! ☕

Still Brewing: Coffee #5

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Happy Monday, friends! I cannot believe we are entering the month of April tomorrow. As we enter this new week and new month, I want to share some thoughts my close friend and I had during a conversation this weekend on CHRIST being our treasure.

Have you ever thought that you don't have enough joy in your life as a Christian should? Or maybe that you don't feel the peace everyone at church is talking about. Have you looked at a new believer and longed to feel that hope and excitement you once felt? Though these gifts of CHRIST in our relationship with the HIM are beautiful and we do get them (I touched on a similar topic in my last blog Joy Like a Child Even in the Silence), today I want to stress that we must be chasing after JESUS, not these gifts.

It can be easy to chase after more joy in CHRIST, more peace, more hope, or more comfort; but our walk with GOD and faith is a relationship with JESUS CHRIST. It is good to long for these things since we are ambassadors for CHRIST and represent HIM, but that must not be our sole drive. Even these good things can take our hearts off of JESUS HIMSELF. It's about loving JESUS, not just the benefits of being with HIM. 

Philippians 3:8 – “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.”

Psalm 73:25-26 – “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

John 6:26-27 – “Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.’”

Now I want to look at a different angle of CHRIST being our sole treasure. As the days, weeks, months, and years go by, I am sure the effects of this fallen world become more and more evident to you. In two different ways: One, being our own sinful flesh and how much sin we have in our lives; constantly needing to repent. Two, being the pain, loss, suffering, and trials. The realities of the ugliness of this world become more evident as the innocence of our childhoods grow further away. 

But what if instead of letting this make us more weary, we allow this to strengthen us. No, not by our own strength that the world says we have. I don't even know where society sees the strength in us because I know that I am incredibly weak. I am talking about JESUS' strength of course. But most importantly, that as our fallen nature and this broken world become more evident, CHRIST gets more and more elevated. 

By us recognizing our weakness, JESUS becomes higher and higher. And by the broken effects of this world leaving us feeling the pain, JESUS becomes sweeter and sweeter. The thought of worshipping JESUS perfectly for eternity continues to grow more and more beautiful growing our longing. As my friend said, the pain and suffering of this world will just make Heaven with JESUS that much more beautiful. 

We grow to know HIS fullness through our brokenness. And the more we recognize this, the more we can treasure CHRIST's sufficiency alone in our lives.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 – “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Romans 5:3-5 – “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

Hebrews 12:6-7, 11 – “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons… For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

Lamentations 3:22-23 – “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 – “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”

LORD, I want to treasure YOU above any gift that YOU give. And as I continue journeying this life in this fallen world, allow that to be used to elevate you higher and higher so YOU only become more and more sweet to me. 

LORD willing, see you all for our next cup of coffee together! 

- Sabina