It was a similar political scene as now when Jesus came to earth to provide the way of salvation as the ultimate and final sacrifice for our sins. He came as the light, the truth, the word of God made flesh. Perfect righteousness requires justice to be enacted on all the rebelliousness and evil within each human heart. Otherwise, love remains imperfect, fragmented, dismal and dark. Within each human heart remains a glimpse or desire for justice; mistakenly believed by the humanists as evidence of humanity’s innate goodness. Ironically, the knowledge of good and evil, as thwarted as it may be, proves God IS. Yet, to find our way out of the darkness, we must know absolute truth, perfect love as only found in Jesus. For blinded eyes to open to light, you must know and really love Jesus as your greatest treasure.
The story has been the same since the beginning. “4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend (JOHN 1 NKJV) “16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. …He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
Your Greatest Treasure
After Jesus was baptized, He was led by the Holy Spirit where he was tempted by Satan. He has fasted and prayed for 40 days. In His human state, He knew hunger and thirst. A human body left weak, frail; yet the spirit of God indwelling Him to strengthen Him. Satan tempted Him first by saying, turn these stones into bread. Surely God did not want His Son to starve! Besides, if Jesus would just show Himself as the one who could feed all the hungry by this act, then all would worship Him for the bread He could provide. Then Jesus answered, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’” (Luke 4:4).
Jesus knew that if one follows Him only for the gifts He might give, then they truly are not following Him. Also, in His humanity, He understood how easy it might be for us to do just that. Indeed, we see in Luke 4, the crowd doing just that—rejecting Him because not all would be fed or healed. They did not understand that He is Your Greatest Treasure, not the miracles. He is the light, the truth, and the way. Oh, that we would really love Jesus with all our hearts, minds, strength, and soul, desiring Him above all else. Instead, too often we seek only the gift. Let us look at what these in Nazareth did.
Luke 4;
16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me [i]to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are [j]oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”
They Wanted the Gifts They Heard of, not the Giver
Luke 4: 23 He said to them, “You will surely say this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum,[k] do also here in Your country.’ ” (We heard you did miracles for the people, give us the same!)
Luke 4: 24 Then He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. 25 But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; 26 but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”
God does not always give us the miracle we asked for; because He knows that in our hearts we are seeking Him. Rather we are seeking His gifts only.
Luke 4: 28 So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29 and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff. 30 Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.
Really Love Jesus as Your Greatest Treasure
Recently, in these highly political times in the United States, many believe that God failed to respond when they called to Him. But did He fail? Or does He know that deep within our hearts we are seeking the gift rather than the giver of the gifts. Do you really love Jesus as your greatest treasure? If so, then all that surrounds us fades into the shadows compared to Him. When we recognize Him as our greatest treasure, then we can face any trial, any mountain, and any sorrow trusting Him to show us the way.
If you really love Jesus as Your greatest treasure, then your heart would be ablaze with the gospel message, desiring to share Him with everyone you meet today. Yet, a little while and He
will return. Judgement will come upon the earth. All who do not know Him as Lord and Savior will Perish eternally unless they come to accept Him as Lord and Savior. Yet, in your heart, mind, and hands you hold the greatest treasure—the gift of eternal life—Jesus Christ. Who do you need to tell today?
Concluding Thoughts
John Bunyan chose prison over denouncing his call to evangelize. Paul the apostle, remained in prison rather than to stop preaching the gospel. And from prison wrote the gospel message to spread around the world until the day he was beheaded for his stance for Jesus. Peter also died because he would not denounce Christ. They were not lukewarm and merely content with their own salvation. Neither should we be. We are called to evangelize from wherever we are.
“It is impossible to be truly evangelical in the biblical sense and not believe in evangelism. If a man is truly evangelical in this sense, he believes in hell. He believes that man is doomed and dying and needs Christ. He believes man’s only escape is in Christ and it is man’s responsibility to receive Christ. An infidel lecturer once said, “If I believed what you Christians believe I would never rest day or night in my desire to tell men about it.” [1]
So, once more the question is: Do you really love Jesus as Your greatest Treasure? If so, what are you going to do about it? And if not, why not? Do you really know Him as Lord and Savior of your life? He is standing at the door of your heart knocking. Will you let Him in?
[1] Theodore H. Epp; Practical Studies in Revelations Vol 1; The Good News Broadcasting Association, Lincoln, Nebraska, 1969, page 185
DO YOU KNOW CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOR AND LORD?
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Disclosures
©Effie Darlene Barba, 2021
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. Furthermore, I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned except for my own books. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
Credits
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.