Jesus is My Treasure

I was born with a contrary spirit- I'm convinced.

Everything I see I feel could or should be examined differently or done in a different way. Every argument has another side. I don't think I always bring up the other side in conversation, but I can guarantee you that I'm almost always thinking of it.

Last night I went to an event at our University of Florida BCM (Baptist Collegiate Ministries) at which there were response cards to be filled out by the students in reaction to the salvation message given by one of the student pastors from a nearby church.

The message was presented quite tastefully with Christ as the center and public and personal opinion primarily left by the wayside. I thought the story of Christ was presented well. (And isn't it funny that I think my opinion counts so much.)

My story of Jesus as my "treasure" begins whenI examined the response cards with my friends as we were being directed by the student pastor to fill them out according to our decision we made that night. The first line said, "I have asked Jesus to be my treasure." I looked at that and immediately thought, "What the heck does that mean?" There was no mention of Jesus as treasure in the message, no relevancy of the word to that night's preaching. Granted, I know the intent of using that word, but seriously, did my non-Christian friends who were attending, searching for Christ, did they know what it meant to ask Christ to be their treasure? I don't think I would even be able to explain it to them. It seemed like such a misuse, or rather a vague description of what the Christian call truly is asking of us. Count the cost, right? Tell them the cost.

Additionally, there was a line that said, "I am already commited to Christ, but have been doing things apart from Christ and would like to rededicate my life to Jesus." I have a HUGE problem with that word, rededicate. In my estimation, we are called to Christ and answer him one time. Rededication to me sounds like an easier word than saying repentance. If we have been called to Christ and have strayed, our duty then is to repent not to rededicate, which seems like an offering of promises to try harder when the only one who can perfect us is not ourselves, but rather, Christ.

I know this sounds like a harsh review of something seemingly inconsequential in the great scheme of things. I realize that response cards, ultimately, cannot interfere with the work of the Holy Spirit. It just seems like we could be doing things so much better. I am a word person, always looking for the perfect word to fill a void in a paper or a card. There are others out there who are word people too who might agree with me that these words conceal the reality of Christ's calling to some degree by placing the true understanding of salvation under a veil of "Christianese" that is nearly impenetrable by those outside the Christian circle.

It's not that I'm condemning these cards or their writers. I am just suggesting that we can do it better and we ought to try. I don't even disagree with the phrase "Jesus is my treasure." He truly is. But without an explanation as to why that is, I can't imagine someone else understanding that usage.

Jesus is my treasure.