Treasure.

It can equal riches, but it doesn’t have to.
I can treasure expensive things.
But I can also treasure things that are free.

This truth hit me full force after I bought my $6 chair.

One of my happy thoughts in buying the chair was that it was only $6 – less than a combo meal at Chick-fil-a – so I didn’t have that much invested in it if it got stained or ruined.

Fast forward a few months when we had a group of people over. One of them, bless his heart, gave a slight jump and made a crash landing into my chair. MY $6 CHAIR.

I stared silently. In shock. Not sure how to respond to such a display.

And that’s when I realized how much I truly loved and treasured that chair.

Because of the silent freak-out session that happened inside my heart after the crash landing had indeed come to a stop right in my beloved – albeit cheap – chair.

You see, it had nothing to do with how much money I had spent, but with how much of myself I had spent. 

The $6? Totally replaceable.
The energy I had spent to find that chair?
The joy I experienced when I bought it for such a steal?
The pride I had in telling my husband, mom, you guys, and the neighborhood squirrels about the steal?
Yeah. Not so easily replaced.

And that’s when I realized it’s possible for my heart to treasure anything. Really – anything. But the danger comes when I give myself and my affections to a particular thing.

Which is why these verses from Colossians are completely on point:

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above,
where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
Colossians 3:1-3

As a believer in Christ, my affections must be wrapped up in Him.
How does that happen? It happens as I fix my mind and heart on Him and His Word.
Am I spending most of my thoughts and emotions on earthly things? Or on Christ?

Today, give your treasures to Christ. And seek to treasure Him above all.
That’s what I want to do, don’t you? I don’t want my treasure to be wrapped up in the here and now, like it so often is. I want my heart, thoughts, and goals to be on better things. On Christ. Let’s encourage each other towards this goal!