What do you treasure? Or it could be asked in this way: what do you take joy or pleasure in? We all have things we treasure or take pleasure in. This question about what we treasure is a very important question, because it tells a lot about our relationship with Christ. Jesus tells us, "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matt. 6:21). So, what do you treasure?
Let me ask another question: Would you want to go to heaven if God were not there? Are you looking forward to spending eternity with God or are you just looking forward to His gifts? We are not saved just to escape hell and to enter heaven. Heaven would not be special if God were not there. So, God did not save us just to bring us out of punishment. He also did not save us just so He could bless us with gifts in and of themselves. God saved us so we could love God with our whole hearts. "Love the Lord your God with all your soul and with all your heart and with all your mind." (Matt. 22:37)
Before He saves us, we are unable to love God. Sin is anything that denies God the love and honor and glory that He deserves. But we have to understand that we are more than just people who sin. We are sinful. "None is righteous, no not one!" (Romans 3:10). This means that we are not just people who occasionally stop loving God. We are people who cannot glorify and love God. We are sinners and before Christ changes our hearts, nothing we do brings glory to God and therefore everything we do is sin. We do not just occasionally sin, we always sin before we come to Christ. And unless we truly love Christ, we will not turn to Him. "Whoever believes in the Son of God is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed." (John 3:18-20). You see, everyone who loves the darkness does not come to the light. So someone can say they believe in Jesus, but unless they truly love Him and treasure Him, they have never truly received Him. Only those who treasure Him above all other things can say they have truly received Him.
Now, of course there are those who love the gifts that He gives, but not truly love Him. This is not salvation, because they can say they believe in Him, but not truly love God for who He is. This is the problem for the prosperity gospel. It preaches that if you come to Christ then He will give you all the desires of your heart. Some may say, well that's what Scripture teaches isn't it? "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:4). So if you turn to God, He'll give you the desires of your heart, right? Yes and no. Look at it closer. Who does it say that will receive the desires of their hearts? Those who delight themselves in the Lord. If their delight is in the Lord, then their desire is for God. And if their desire is for God, then it is God that they will receive. So it does not teach that God is a means to personal wealth and prosperity in the sense that the world defines it. It teaches that the one who delights in and desires God (or treasures God above all things) will receive what they treasure, namely God Himself. And those who truly do desire Him will be completely satisfied in Him.
This doesn't mean that God does not choose to bless some people with material wealth. But what this means is that those who delight in God will not treasure the gifts God gives them in and of themselves. They will be happy and thankful for what God gives them, but they will see those gifts as something in which they can use to continue to glorify God in their lives. The gifts are tools given by God for them to continue to show the world that God is infinitely more valuable than everything else they have. The true gift they have is God Himself, and if they were to lose all, they can still say they are rich because they have God.
Listen to what Peter and Paul have to say about this view of God being the ultimate gift that we can receive:
"For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God..." (1 Peter 3:18)
"For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father." (Ephesians 2:18)
"More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation." (Romans 5:11)
You see in each of these that the goal of salvation is not forgiveness or heaven or receiving good things in life. The goal is to be reconciled to God and to enjoy being in His presence. The gift of salvation is God Himself.
That is why Jesus has saved us and that is the desire for all those who truly believe. So, let me ask one more time: what do you treasure above all things? This will tell you whether you have truly received the grace of God that leads to salvation. God has saved us so we can treasure Him above all things, and in so doing we can once again glorify God. And this was the purpose for which God created us, so we can take pleasure in glorifying Him.
Some of you might ask yourself then: what can I do to be saved so I can love God with all my heart?
"Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out." (Acts 3:19)
"Believe in the name of the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved." (Acts 16:31)
Repent from the lifestyle that has refused to glorify God. Repent and believe in the Lord Jesus. You can pray a prayer something like this:
"Lord Jesus, I know that I have not loved you. I have sought my own desires and pleasures and have rejected you. I am a sinner who has turned away from you. Please forgive me of my sin. I believe that you are the Son of God who died upon the cross to pay the price for my sins. I ask you to give me heart that loves you and desires you above all other things. Help me to love You the way You deserve. Thank You for loving me and forgiving me. Amen."
If you truly desire for Christ to forgive you and to change your life, then you will be saved. That is a promise from God!
