Luke 12:6-7
They vary in size, in kind, in location, and what they contain—but every person has a place where treasures are kept. Maybe a shoebox, maybe a closet, maybe a scrapbook or a journal. Measured by the world’s standards of value, peoples’ treasures are mere trinkets. They’re made of plastic, cloth, paper, or common metals, and were retrieved from those turning-point moments in life when something happened that should always be remembered. Because our feelings and memories can’t be bottled, these minute mementos are our connection to what is truly valuable to us.
And yet even within those treasure chests of our favorite things, there are priorities—some things are more important than others. It’s not that we don’t care for everything with equal effort—where our shoebox goes, everything goes. But within that collection of valuables, a small cross given to us by a godparent may be a greater treasure than the ticket stub from our first date.
If we think of the earth as God’s treasure-trove of valued things, we learn from Scripture that there are two categories of importance: First, human beings; second, everything else. Because men and women were created in God’s image to have eternal fellowship with him, we are the most valued part of his earthly creation (Ps. 8:3-8). In fact, to illustrate how very important we are in God’s sight, Jesus used the way God cares for the least of his creation as a means of comparison. Even tiny sparrows, worth less than a half-penny apiece in the market, are remembered by God—and are, in fact, fed by him every day (Matt. 6:26). If not even the broken wing of a sparrow, or the cries for food of a sparrow’s young, escapes God’s attention, then we, “who are worth more than many sparrows,” will be remembered by him as well.
As a human being, you are the pinnacle of God’s earthly creation. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you have become a child of God, a member of God’s forever family. Because of who you are in Christ, God keeps you close to his heart like a treasure that looks back to the cross and forward to the crown. God will never forget you.
God’s Promise to You: “What I treasure most, I plan to keep with me forever.”
