For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord has chosen you out of all the
peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession (emphasis mine).
peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession (emphasis mine).
Deuteronomy 7:6
and to purify for himself a people that
are his very own (emphasis mine), eager to do what is good.
Titus 2:14
nation, a people belonging to God (emphasis
mine), that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness
into His wonderful light.
1 Peter 2:9
What do you
own that you treasure? I possess a lot
of things that I highly value. They don’t
cost a lot money-wise, but because they hold a lot of memories, they are
treasured: pictures from my past (especially
of my children), artifacts we brought home from Kenya, gifts given to us by
special people, books that brought a life-changing message, a box of old recipes
that belonged to my mom (in her hand-writing), poetry written by my dad…these
are the treasures of my world. Pieces of
nostalgia. I couldn’t part with these
things for any price. What do you
treasure? I’d love to sit and compare
notes.
to look for treasures. The bargain
variety. I especially like the treasures
of the past. On any given weekend, you
might find me at The Brass Armadillo
treasure hunting. Some people obsess
over treasure hunting. I can’t say I obsess;
it’s more like a hobby. It was more the
previous for Robert Ballard. At age 25,
he began a search for the sunken Titanic. Those who knew him said this quest became the
sole force that drove his every day. He
lived, ate, breathed, and slept Titanic information. Finally at age 42, his mission came to a close
when he finally achieved his goal.
The Hebrew word
for treasured means the same thing to
the Lord as it does to us. It signifies
a private possession one has personally acquired and carefully preserved. So, what does this mean to you and me that we
are “treasured possessions?” The Word is clear that the Lord considers
us his treasure. Indeed, we became the
obsession that drove the Lord Jesus Christ from his heavenly home, where he
lived in close connection with his Father.
You and I were his motivation to limit himself to a human body, then to
suffer physical and emotional pain, and ultimately death, in order that we
could be freed from the depths of our sin. Jesus “lived, ate, breathed, and slept” the desire to have us as his treasured possession.
Here’s where
the analogy with Ballard breaks down.
While Ballard was credited with the discovery of Titanic, he never could possess, or “free,”
the very thing he sought. When the Lord
pursued us and found us in our lostness, he longed to possess
us. This is good news! In our society to be possessed by another has
some negative connotation. No man
desires to be owned by another. We see
that as slavery. Not so in God’s economy. It is not slavery, but freedom. Freedom to work, and move, and live
abundantly. His possession of us simply
speaks to the greatness of our value; we were bought at a price when he found
us…an extremely high price. He would
not give us away for anything!
We.Are.His. Say it, “I.Am.His.” Being his possession is very personal.