After a friend said that Valentine’s Day was a complete disappointment for her, she is feeling defeated and sad. She doubts that God will ever bless her with a husband and wants to give up on this desire. She told me that she realizes her standards are very high and that she is very picky. She also admits to being judgmental, but said, “I just want the best, and I thought that God wanted me to have the best too. I don’t understand why I have to continue being single year after year!”
God answers prayers, and when we pray to Him for the great desires of our hearts, He also tells us what He requires of us. Many of us are in denial about this, but God and His blessing plan are not flawed. Everything that He does is perfect and according to His Will and purpose. In the Old Testament, God had given His people the extraordinary promise of having a land to call their own, and it wasn’t just any land, it was the best land, but with this promise, there was a condition—a requirement—that needed to be met. In Deuteronomy 30:16(ESV), through His servant, Moses, God told them, “If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.”
So, indeed my friend is correct, God wants us to have the best, and only He can give us the best, but we, as His sons and daughters, have a responsibility to know and live according to His truth. John 3:16(ESV) tells us, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Our Heavenly Father gave us the life of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. This is a treasure so enormous that it will take us an eternity to live it out.
God has already given us the best, and everything that you and I do in this life is a response to what He has done. Most people respond to this enormous treasure of the sacrifice of Christ by neglecting, ignoring, or downplaying its vast and rich wealth. Others deny its bounty and follow certain aspects of the example of Christ only to the extent that it serves their personal agendas. But a small minority will passionately cling to the example of Christ. A small minority of us will make it our priority to live, give, share, and love according to the bounty of what we have received through Christ.
In Romans 12:1-2(NLT), God tells us, “1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” God is lovingly appealing to us to give our whole hearts, minds, souls, and strength to Him as a living sacrifice; not a dead one full of darkness, destruction, and death, but a living sacrifice that is full of love, devotion, and passion for Him. He commands us not to be conformed to this world, which is full of selfishness, arrogance, and wickedness. Instead, we must change the way that we think so that our minds line up with the mind of Christ, and our lives will be pleasing to our Heavenly Father.
Many single women have gone on an expedition of finding and owning their self-worth. They’ve been of the mindset that they are a treasure and therefore deserve a treasure. The truth is that only God can define what a treasure is or isn’t, and He has established that the treasure in us is the Spirit of Christ who lives within. 2Corinthians 4:7(NLT), “We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.” Our motivation should always and forever be to find the treasure of Christ in us and learn to love through him increasingly with each day. When this is our great goal and ambition, God will send a man who is deserving of the love of Christ that is in our hearts. ■
English Standard Version (ESV), The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Finding the Treasure in You”, written by Kim Times, edited by Fran Mack and KLizzie for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2024. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.