Who Do You Love?

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." (Matt. 13:44)

How important is a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ to you? In this parable Jesus compares knowing God to a man who gave up everything else for that one treasure. I wonder sometimes how many people in the average church value knowing God through Jesus enough to exchange everything for that treasure.

John Piper in God is the Gospel asked a question about heaven and knowing Jesus. I am not going to quote him, but paraphrase his idea. If you could go to heaven and have all the stuff that you value, family, friends, leisure activity you enjoy, good food with no calories, and not have the bad, no sin, no pain, no suffering, no death; that is, you could enjoy heaven for eternity with all the good and not the bad, and yet not have Jesus, would you accept that? Do you truly love Jesus, or do you love the stuff that He does for you?

Is it about knowing God, or is it just not going to hell when we die? Do we truly love Jesus, or do we love the benefits of the Christian journey? Who or what do you love? We need to ask ourselves if we are willing to be like the man in this story and give everything for the joy of knowing God through Christ.