I like those creative credit card commercials that list any number of items and their associated value. At the end of the list is always the word...priceless.
Mountain Biking in
Sailing in
Dude Ranch in
Adding Adventure in life..............PRICELESS!
So...What about God’s Law?
Loving God with all of your heart, with all of your soul and with all of your strength?
Loving your neighbor as yourself?
I think we can agree that these are PRICELESS treasures! But that just may be our problem with God’s Law. When we look at His Law as that which is so valuable that it stands out of the reach of our spiritual bank accounts, it becomes for us a hopeless set of ideals. Under the crushing cost of the Law of God, we see that we are poor and weak. The cost is too great for us. Following God’s priceless Law perfectly means giving ourselves to Him and to others, and I’m afraid that our sin won’t let us do that.
A rich young man, one with the financial means to gain anything the world can offer, approaches Jesus with a question. “What good deed must I do to have eternal life?” Jesus says, “If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” We know that the Law of God always has a cost, each the man seems willing to have paid. No murder, adultery, stealing, or bearing false witness? Honoring mom and dad and loving on my neighbor? “All these I have kept”, says the man. To which Jesus throws down the PRICELESS Law, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me.”
The man must give up both stuff and self, each of which have a price to high for him to pay. He’s too weak. He’s just like you and me!
Jesus point is NOT about giving up all you have, it’s about the fact that the cost is too high for us to pay our way into eternal life. Jesus will have to give up all He had, for you! As Paul says, “God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
That’s PRICELESS!
The gift of God in Christ Jesus is the bill of the Law fully paid in the blood of His Son. Loving God with all of His heart, soul and strength led Jesus to the cross for you. Loving you MORE than He loved Himself is the Son of God opening the heavenly bank account and giving freely what you could never afford.
Loving God with full heart, soul and strength...............PAID in Christ Jesus!
Loving Neighbor as the self.........................................PAID in Christ Jesus!
Living life in Christ, loving God and our neighbor.......PRICELESS!
Jesus says these words to His disciples as He sends them out to share His Word:
“You received without paying; give without pay.”
Go and share the hope that God has given you in Christ Jesus, our PRICELESS TREASURE!
