…in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:2,3).
When my parents sold their home and down-sized a few years ago, they held a “garage sale".
People came from far and wide to look through old books and magazines, used sporting gear, and a very heavy piano located in the basement (which for the purchaser, required getting it around a very tight corner and up a flight of stairs).
Everyone was seeking a bargain.
Consequently, the question on everyone’s mind was, “what is this worth?”
Although none of us talked in these terms, the worth of any item or service is generally appraised using various economic valuations: market value, retail vs. wholesale, effect of depreciation, supply and demand, cost of production, monetary equivalence, and so on.
And at that garage sale, no one saw a connection between theology and economics.
However, the great 13th century Italian theologian Thomas Aquinas dabbled in economic theory when he posited that the valuation of any commodity depends on two things: its subjective usefulness (or utility) and the cost of its production.
Paul was thinking of issues of value and worth when he penned the words above to the Christ-followers of central Asia Minor.
Of maximum importance and eternal value was that they in the 1st century – and we in the 21st – learn to treasure Christ.
Notice what the Apostle says:
-that they may know the mystery of God: when Paul spoke of a mystery, he wasn’t referring to a British detective yarn or a whodunnit. Paul used the Greek term musterion +20 times, generally referencing something previously concealed, that in God’s sovereign revelation was only now revealed in the Gospel of Christ.
-namely, Christ: although Christ was prophesied explicitly and foreshadowed implicitly throughout the Old Testament, I’m convinced of this: no patriarch, major or minor prophet, priest, or king fully realized that the coming Messiah would be God Incarnate.
-in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge: for the disciple, unspeakable wealth of understanding, insight, perception and maturity – even, Paul suggests, the processing and utilizing of knowledge, information and data – are to be found in Christ. Living well. In spiritual symmetry and balance.
How can that be?
But that’s the promise of Scripture: our growing, biblically-accurate appreciation of Christ helps us to think clearly and live more productively in ways that we can’t fully envision until by the work of the Spirit of God, it begins to take root – and continues to flourish – in our own lives.
Takeaway: That’s why for 2020, my personal goal and my desire for Bethel is that together we’d have an increased dimension – a greater and growing capacity – to treasure Christ.
Here’s a diagnostic tool: For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:21).
May our experience be that as we feed on God’s Word and are transformed by God’s Spirit, we value other things less and esteem our precious Lord Jesus progressively more.
And may that be our experience this year – and every year.
He is so worth it!
~graphic by Janine Chance, freeimages.com
