When you treasure the Word of God, you are expressing your love for God. You treasure the Word by meditating on it or thinking about it all throughout the day. Remember, your life will go in the direction of your most dominant thoughts. When your dominant thoughts are the Word of God, you will be empowered to overcome in every area of life!
"This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success."
(Joshua 1:8 KJV)
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Matthew 13:44)
For too long we have contented ourselves with what God can do for us and what He can give us. We come to the Lord with a need in mind, and the next day we approach with another need, and the following day we return with yet another request. This pattern repeats itself continually. We return again and again to withdraw a little more from the heavenly bank.
Surely we should let our requests be made known unto God, and we must also ask, that we may receive. But think: if a man owns a field, does he not also possess the buried treasure in the field? Does it not stand to reason then, that if we receive HIM, we possess all He has? How shall He not, with His Son, freely give us all things?
“He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him” (1 Cor. 6:17)
Christ is a deep well in which every spiritual blessing and treasure can be found, but we need something with which to draw upon those depths and bring them up to the surface so we can partake of them. How can we draw upon those depths?
The Cross is the means through which this is accomplished. The Cross is the key that unlocks the door to every provision and remedy available in Christ.
In the Cross we know that God laid on Jesus “the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6b). He was made to suffer the penalty for our sins. In other words, Jesus identified with fallen man in His crucifixion. He was accounted as sinful, though He had done no wrong. That is the principle of identification.
Identification was necessary to accomplish the work of redemption. As glorious as this is, the opposite is equally true: that just as He was identified with us in our sins, so we were identified with Him in His righteousness. Thus, the identification is complete. We are now joined together, made one in Christ through His Cross.
This explains some most peculiar language in the New Testament concerning the Lord Jesus and our relationship to Him. The early believers were not just taught that Jesus died for them, but in addition, they learned that they died with Jesus. This is certainly a mystery, but when one traces it through the Scriptures it becomes increasingly clear.
“He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit,” and just as the husband and wife are joined together and “the two shall become one” (Eph. 5:31,32) so it is with the Lord and His people.
Once we see this we understand why the words of Jesus take on an increasing urgency as He moves towards the Cross: “Abide in Me” (John 15:4). That is, “Continue to dwell in Me, live in Me, stay in union with Me. Even as I go to the Cross – especially now more than ever! – remain in Me.”
In Him there is Life, Light, Love, spiritual fruitfulness and steady growth.
But outside of Him, apart from Him, it is a different story. To be outside of Him is to experience Death, Darkness, Fear, spiritual unfruitfulness and lack of growth. In the language of the Vine, Jesus says those who do not abide in Him are “withered” and eventually “burned” (John 15:6).
But how is this union accomplished? How does God make us to be one spirit with Christ? We cannot say how it is done, but we can say with all confidence that it is so. Where and when does this happen? That we do know: it happens in the Cross.
This is why the Cross is not only the necessary prerequisite for following Jesus, it is the absolutely essential component of our daily walk together with Him. For the disciple, the Cross must be a continuous, constant, consistent state of being in, relating to, and identifying with the crucified, dead, buried, resurrected, ascended, and seated Christ. This is what it means to take up the Cross – not as a teaching or a philosophy, but as a matter of spiritual life and death.
Make God’s Word a priority in your life today and allow it to shape your thinking. Choose to treasure the Word so you can move forward in the abundant life He has for you! Begin to meditate upon the WORD day and night to understand the real message of the Cross.
Today's Prayer
“ Dear Heavenly Father, today I choose to focus my thoughts on You. I choose to treasure Your Word so that my actions will show how much I love You in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
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