Treasuring Christ

This weekend at church my pastor spoke on Love out of 1 Corinthians 13. It was a powerful message talking about what love should look like. As as I sat there listening I began to think as a Child, Husband, father, leader do I treasure Christ? In all that we do as followers of Christ I think this is a question we do not ask enough.

As I sat at my seat listening to my pastor preach I started to think that I treasure lots of things about Christ and I treasure the possibility of what Christ can bring to my life but do I truly treasure Christ. The answer I came to was no. If Christ could do nothing for me would I do anything for him. If I am honest I’m not sure I would. The thing that scared me more than anything was that as much as I have read studied and come to a greater understanding of the Gospel than I have in my entire life I realize that I have yet to scratch the surface of my deep seated idolatry. I realized that my heart creates idols faster than I can chuck them out of the widow of my life.

When you truly treasure Christ you see the beauty in pain, you see the joy in suffering, you understand the bliss that comes from doing what is right and being misunderstood. When you treasure Christ your identity can never be lost because Christ emptied himself and come to earth, you can never be poor because of the richness of knowing him.

At the end of my pastor’s message he showed a powerful video about a couple that married even though one of them was involved in a car accident that affected his ability to function and do many things by himself. At their wedding they read the following quote from John Piper.

Marriage is not mainly about prospering economically; it is mainly about displaying the covenant-keeping love between Christ and his  church. Knowing Christ is more important than making a living. Treasuring Christ is more important than bearing children.

If we make secondary things primary, they cease to be secondary and become idolatrous. They have their place. But they are not first, and they are not guaranteed. Life is precarious, and even if it is long by human standards, it is short. “What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes” (James 4:14). “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring”
(Prov. 27:1).

It may have many bright days, or it may be covered with clouds. If we make secondary things primary, we will be embittered at the sorrows we must face. But if we set our face to make of marriage mainly what God designed it to be, no sorrows and no calamities can stand in our way. Every one of them will be, not an obstacle to success, but a way to succeed. The beauty of the covenant-keeping love between Christ and his church shines brightest when nothing but Christ can sustain it.

When he said treasuring Christ is more important than bearing children it hit me. I began to cry because my greatest treasure here on earth is my family. What I failed to understand is that my primary purpose as a parent is not to raise great kids but to raise kids to glorify a great God. That only can happen in home in which the parents leading that home truly treasure Christ. I have come to realize that much of what I do as a parent is out of fear of what my kids might become rather than in faith and gratefulness for what he has already done. When we dedicate our kids to the Lord it’s a religious ceremony not an act of faith. I never want my role as a husband, father and pastor to ever keep me from truly knowing Christ.

When we treasure Christ we obey and submit our lives to him. The beauty of a life that treasures Christ is found when nothing but Christ can sustain it.

Here is the video we showed this weekend.