Scripture: Mark 10:17-31
Journal: What do you really
treasure? What does that tell you about
your heart? Do you really believe that
you are God’s treasure? What does that
do to your heart?
Reflection: The scriptures tell us that “Where your treasure is, there will your
heart be also.” (Luke 12:34) Which makes
total sense, but seems a little backwards.
For we live in a world that says, “Follow your heart and it will lead
you to your treasure.” But the truth is
that it’s actually our treasure that will lead us to our heart. When we get that mixed up, it can lead us on
a bit of a wild goose chase. Just ask
the rich young ruler.
He was stockpiling “treasures”
that could never satisfy the deepest longings of his heart, that’s how he found
himself at the feet of Jesus. All of the
wealth and the power and the fame he had achieved was still not enough. Something was still missing. His heart was still not full. All he really wanted was to be treasured
himself, he was just looking in the wrong places. He was looking for people and things and
achievements to give him the fullness that only God can give. The deepest cry of his heart was simply to be
treasured, to be loved for who and what he really was. The same is true for each of us.
We all long to be
treasured. We all long to be valued
beyond measure, but mere mortals can never offer us the fullness we are
searching for. The problem is we spend
all of our hours and our days looking for something we already have—in Jesus. “Jesus looked at him and loved him.” There it is, right in front of him, and he is
either unwilling or unable to see it—or truly believe it. He is simply unwilling to let go of his many “treasures,”
in order to allow himself to be truly treasured. What a tragedy. But one that we all repeat every day.
We are all on a quest to be
treasured. We think that somehow if we
can be treasured by that person or that thing or that crowd, then all our
dreams will come true; our hearts will finally be full and content. But they won’t. We were made more. We were made to be treasured by God. Whose we are was always meant to define
who we are, not vice versa. So
every day we face the same choice as the rich young ruler, to treasure God or
to treasure things other than God. To be
treasured by him, or to seek to be treasured by others. What will it be?
Prayer
Closing
Prayer: Convince me, Lord Jesus, that I am your
treasure. Then everything else will
finally fall into place. Amen.
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