Let Jesus Be Your Treasure

“Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.”

2 Corinthians 5:9 (NKJV)

It is possible to love what God gives and slowly stop treasuring God Himself.

It rarely happens deliberately. We start out delighted with Jesus. Then we become delighted with the answered prayer, the opportunity, the ministry, the provision, the sense of momentum. None of those things is wrong. Every one of them is a gift. But gifts have a way of migrating quietly from the hand to the throne.

Here is a question worth sitting with today. Has Jesus become precious to me, or has He simply become useful to me?

Paul writes, “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.”

Look at the phrase “we make it our aim.” Some translations render it “we make it our ambition.” Paul is describing a governing purpose, the thing that organises everything else. And notice what it is not. His aim is not comfort, not success, not even effectiveness in ministry. His aim is to please Christ.

And look at “whether present or absent.” Paul has just been writing about the tent of this body and the eternal building from God. He means: whether I am still here or already with the Lord, the aim does not change. That is a man whose ambition has been simplified down to one thing.

Now, the cross is what keeps this from becoming religion.

Christianity is not first about what we can get from God. Read on just two verses in the same chapter and Paul explains what drives him: “For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).

That is the engine. Not duty. Not fear of losing favour. The love of Christ, demonstrated at the cross, compelling a response.

So let me be very clear about something, because it is easy to get backwards. We do not obey Jesus in order to make Him love us. The gospel does not begin with our effort. “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Our obedience is the response of a heart that has actually seen what Christ has done, not a payment towards a debt that is still outstanding. The debt was cancelled at Calvary, and the same chapter tells us how: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Grasp that and obedience changes character entirely. It stops being a fee and becomes an affection.

Now let me guard the other side too, because this can be twisted. Saying “I do not obey to earn love” is not the same as saying obedience is optional. Paul’s whole point is that he aims to please Him. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Grace does not make holiness unnecessary; it makes it possible and it makes it glad.

So how do you tell whether Jesus has become precious or merely useful?

Ask what happens when the benefits pause. When the answers stop coming for a season, when the ministry door closes, when nobody notices, when you are not being blessed in any way you can point to, is He still worth following? The disciples faced exactly this test in John 6, when the crowds left after a hard teaching. Jesus turned to the twelve and asked, “Do you also want to go away?” Peter’s answer is the answer of a man who treasures rather than uses: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

Ask what you want most in prayer. Is it His presence, or is it His resources? Both are legitimate to ask for. But if the second has entirely crowded out the first, something has drifted.

And ask what you talk about. We talk about what we treasure.

Practically, one small change helps enormously. Begin some of your prayer times without a single request. Just thank Him, worship Him, and be with Him. It is remarkable how quickly that exposes whether we have been coming as a child or as a customer.

Real discipleship says, “Jesus, You are worth following,” and then keeps following when following costs something.

Let me add one practical safeguard, because treasuring Christ is easier to admire than to maintain.

Jesus told the church at Ephesus that they had left their first love, and He gave them a specific remedy: “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works” (Revelation 2:5). Notice the order. Remember, repent, and then do the things you used to do.

He does not tell them to work up an emotion. He tells them to return to the practices that once carried the affection: unhurried prayer, Scripture read for their own souls, worship without a role to play.

If Jesus feels more useful than precious at the moment, start there. Do the first works, and let the affection follow the obedience.

So let Jesus be more than a part of your life. Make Him your treasure, your priority, and the One you most want to please.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, You died for me while I was still Your enemy, and Your love is what compels me. Forgive me for the times I have wanted Your gifts more than I have wanted You. Search out where a good thing has quietly moved from my hand to the throne. Make it my genuine ambition to please You, whether or not anyone sees it and whether or not it benefits me. Teach me to come to You as a child and not as a customer. You are worth following, and I want You to be my treasure. In Your name, amen.

Declaration

Jesus is not useful to me; He is precious to me. My aim is to please Him, whether or not there is anything in it for me.

Pastor Ras

All Nations Community Church

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