THE GREAT TREASURE HUNT!

Over the years listening to people talk I have noticed that many people have a very negative view of what they think that God thinks about them. Corrupt human reasoning has persuaded mankind to think that God is out to get them for something they have done. After all don’t we attribute almost every natural disaster to an “act of God”? Yet the bible is very clear on the subject, Romans 8:19-22 tells us that natural disaster is... a by-product of Adams sin; and the whole creation “including earth,” is subject to vanity and corruption while waiting on deliverance.

We see extreme weather patterns and violent earth quakes that rock our planet, all of these give witness to the universal chaotic disarray because of Adams original sin in the garden. Besides this, when is the last time that you heard anyone accuse the devil of any of this? Yet to do so would be more in line with what the scriptures teach us concerning the destruction of human life. In John 10:10 the bible tells us that the thief “Satan” comes to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. Did you get that? Not God, but Satan is the destroyer: however since God falsely gets most of the blame for this tragedy is it any wonder that people think the way they do. And the real tragedy; is that God gets the blame; we incarcerate people for the things we often accuse God of.

To some degree I can understand the world thinking this way they are in darkness, but we the church, the blood bought born-again believers are the children of light, Ephesians 5:8, For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light. We of all people should understand the value that God places on a human life; yet so many Christians think they are less than nothing and struggle with Gods acceptance of them because of condemnation. They seem to always wrestle with the fact that God loves them and has forgiven them.

Can you imagine a loving father talking to his six year old son and telling him how unworthy he is to be his son, or how worthless he is, but yet so many in Christians feel and talk this way about themselves. They talk about how unworthy and undeserving they are and by the time they’re finished talking; you would think that God is condemning them and everyone else including yourself. After hearing all of this, you have to ask yourself this question, am I really worth anything to God at all? Does he really love me, or does he just keep a record of all my faults so that he can take me off the planet if he’s having a bad day? Sad to say, but that’s the way many people think.

How much value does God place on a human being? What would cause him to leave heaven and come to earth in search of something that we esteem as worthless, such as ourselves? The bible gives us many parallels of Gods love for people as he illustrates this love with teachings of those who have lost valuable possessions and went in search of them.

Luke 15:4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it.

Luke 15:8 Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it.

These two simple verses demonstrate how valuable we are to God. My friend you and I are that valuable possession that was lost. We may not have known that we were lost or even valuable, but God knew it and loved us enough to come after us. We are what he loves the most; that’s why he came seeking for us, think about it; God had everything in heaven he could have ever wanted and yet in all of his marvelous creation you and I are what he desires the most. His love for people is what compelled him to embark on a journey to find “what was for him”, “The Greatest Treasure Of All”.

Like a treasure chest lying at the bottom of the ocean floor all covered with silt and debris, tarnished with rust, and years of build up from the sediment in the water, the chest just lay’s there totally worthless until someone considers it valuable enough to search for it and find it. This is the way that were when we were in sin, our life covered with thousands and thousands of years of corrupt contamination from Adam’s original sin in the garden plus a whole lot of our own sin on top of that; we were worthless except for one thing, God considered us valuable and sent his son in search of us.

This journey from heaven to earth would cost God everything, it would finally consummate in great pain and suffering for Jesus, but the end result would be victory for all who believe! Jesus last days on the earth were some of the most horrific days of human suffering ever recorded in human history, he was mocked, spit upon, slapped and beaten, his beard was pulled out, his back was given to the brutality of the Roman whip until his flesh was hanging off the bone, he was crowned with thorns and nailed to the cross, hanging there with every bone out of joint, with his last breath he cried with a loud voice “It Is Finished”, John 19:30. There on the cross- suspended between heaven and earth forsaken by the Father, with no one to help, Jesus died for you.

So I ask you, HOW VALUABLE ARE YOU TO GOD? You may think that you are worthless, BUT GOD APPARENTLY THINKS YOU ARE WORTH IT ALL!

God knew from before the foundation of the world that he would give the life of his son in exchange for you Think about it, before God ever said “Light Be”, Genesis 1:3, and brought this physical universe into existence, he already knew that it would be necessary to send Jesus to the cross to shed his blood as the price of your redemption; and yet he loved you enough to begin creating everything that exist. Are you worth something to God? You better believe it!

For God so loved the world,
That he gave his only begotten son,
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
But have everlasting life, John 3:16

God did all of this hoping for only one thing in return, that we would receive his love through the message of the gospel: The gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes, Romans 1:16. To be saved, God does not expect something great of us, he ask only that we believe the message of Son. “WOW” that’s easy enough for anyone to do.

You my friend are a priority to God. God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, Romans 5:8. Think of the value of just one human being: a person that is born into sin and spiritually blind, not knowing that without Christ he or she could die at any moment and end up in hell, O the Love of God that he would send his son in search of this priceless treasure before it’s eternally to late. If you’re reading this it’s not too late for you.

Life’s journey may have taken you through some horrible experiences or you could possibly be living the dream without any problems at all, but the fact is either way if you die without Jesus you will be eternally separated from God and dammed to hell forever. God sent heavens best “JESUS” just for you. And that makes you worth more than you will ever know. I know I keep repeating this, but it’s true. There are no words with which I can express the love, the value, and the respect that God has for you, He loves you enough to respect your decision about whether or not to believe the gospel. You do understand that he sent his son for you? WHO ARE YOU THAT GOD WOULD GO TO SUCH EXTREME MEASURES TO FIND YOU AND REDEEM YOU?

Psalms 8:3-4 when I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; Vs 4 what is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man that thou visitest him?

Through Jesus, no matter who you are or what you have done, God intends to lift you higher than you could ever imagine. Some say if a deal sounds too good to be true, it’s probably not a good deal; however, salvation through the offering of Jesus is the deal of a lifetime. To receive him is to receive life, eternal life, life that will deliver you from hell and take you all the way to heaven. Now that’s a deal you can’t live or die without.

If you haven’t received Jesus, just ask him to forgive you and to come into your heart and he will. He will give you new life now and a future hope! If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; and behold, all things are become new, 11 Corinthians 5:17. You will have a new life in Christ and begin to experience his power to overcome this world and to live in victory.

If you have already received Jesus and feel unworthy and live under a cloud of gilt, shame and condemnation: allow the truth of Gods word to speak to your heart and believe it. God’s word is truth, absolute truth; allow that truth to begin to dominate the way you think about yourself. Live every day in the freedom that Jesus has purchased for you, and realize that you are that valuable treasure that compelled God to come from heaven to earth, just to find you. God wants you free! God wants you happy! God wants you full of the joy of the Lord.

There is therefore now no condemnation to them, which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit, Romans 8:1.

Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us, Romans 8:33-34.

The blood of Jesus has washed you free from sin and purchased for you a new nature. You have been justified “declared innocent” in the sight of God; Jesus himself is making intercession for us that we might experience true liberation as sons, free from sin and walking in the power of a transformed life as we are conformed to his image through the work of the Holy Spirit.

You and your life are worth something to God, just give him the consent of your heart and a simple prayer using your own words and watch what he can do with you and the rest of your life.

The next time you look into the mirror and think “O I’m not worth much” ask your self this question: if I’m not worth much, THEN WHY DID I COST GOD EVERTHING? WHY WAS NO EXPENSE SPARED THAT I MIGHT BE REDEEMED?

There have been many stories of those who have left behind everything to risk their life in search of opulent treasure; they have risked it all for something that was only for temporary gain and gratification. Everything in this life is short lived even if we live to be a hundred years old and then die it is certain that we can take nothing with us.

God’s love for us is what brought Jesus from heaven to earth to seek and to save that which was lost, as told through-out the sixty six books of the bible, from Genesis to Revelation, every word God inspired from cover to cover the greatest love story ever told, a story of the redeemer, the Lord Jesus who not only risk it all, but gave it all on a journey to the cross to redeem his man; a journey that some might call, “ The Greatest Treasure Hunt of Them All".