Colossians 2:3—In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (NLV) Jesus is the true treasure of God’s wisdom, insight, and knowledge. He is the complete source of everything we need to understand God, His purposes, and how to live for Him. The deepest truths about love, salvation, righteousness, gladness, and eternity are revealed through following Christ. Our human reasoning fails, but Jesus guides us to success. (my expanded paraphrase)
What Do We Value?
When we value something, we get passionate about it. We devote time, effort, and energy to get it and enjoy it. Valuing something motivates us to be zealous about it. Think of the recent World Cup soccer games. Players sacrificed their physical health, other careers, and personal safety to seek international glory. Some players delayed critical surgeries to play through severe pain, permanently damaging their health. England’s Djed Spence continued to play with a protective face mask after a head injury, illustrating the lengths some players go to in order to compete for the prize.1
But what about the spiritual realm and our relationship with the living Lord? Jesus Christ is God’s supreme gift, the treasure above every other treasure. He is God’s highest gift who meets our greatest needs.
- Christ’s followers have every spiritual blessing in Him.
- We possess the unsearchable riches of Jesus.
- Since the Father has given us His Son, He will graciously give us all that we need.2
We can appreciate Jesus’ value by studying the Scriptures, and remembering how God has blessed us individually, as families, and together with all humanity. You may also like Christ’s Wonderful Names (Part 1), Christ: His Wonderful Names (Part 2), God’s Wonderful Gift (Part 1), and God’s Wonderful Gift (Part 2)
Jesus is Wiser Than Solomon
In the Old Testament, King Solomon (around 1000 BC) had God-given encyclopedic insight on many topics. People from all nations came to learn from him.3 But Jesus the God-man, 100% divine and 100% human in one person, is greater and wiser still.4
- Solomon was famous for God-given knowledge, but Christ is the Source of all truth.
- Solomon was flawed and mortal, but Jesus is the eternal King whose righteous kingdom never ends.
- Solomon spoke wise sayings, but Christ is God’s fullest revelation to us.
- Solomon offered sage advice, but only Jesus can forgive sins and give everlasting life.
Christ is the fuller and superior embodiment of everything Solomon represented—wisdom, kingship, glory, and God’s presence among His people. Jesus, our Mediator, is the great treasure-house where His followers find all we need in this world and in the world to come.
Christ is the King of the kingdom of Heaven. He is the treasure and the pearl of great value.5 God the Father gives Jesus freely to whoever repents of their sins and trusts in Christ. We do not gain life with God by earning or trading something. Salvation is God’s free gift. And after we come to Jesus, He helps us to make God’s kingdom our highest priority and to forsake lesser things. Christ calls us away from inferior aims, ambitions, actions, and accomplishments to love and serve Him. It’s not really a burden to follow Christ. It’s a bargain!6
Missionary martyr Jim Elliot (1927-1956) said, “We are not fools who give what we cannot keep, to gain that which we cannot lose. “7 Christians give our bodies and souls back to God because of all He has first done for us. Now we seek to avoid copying the fallen world’s behavior and customs. Now God transforms us into new people, gradually changing the way we think, feel, and behave.8 The Holy Spirit makes us holy, that means like Jesus.
Texas Tom and the Vault
Imagine yourself back in the early 1900s during the Texas oil boom. Imagine a man named “Texas Tom,” worth billions in today’s dollars. Tom is easily depressed, but when he’s down, he doesn’t go to his pastor or a counselor. He goes to his banker and complains: “Nothing’s any good.” And the banker knows exactly what to do. He brings a security guard and takes his customer into the bank vault. He shows Tom bags of silver dollars on the floor and stacks of bills on the shelves. He lets Tom touch it, count it, and smell it for as long as he wants. Then the banker reminds Tom that his accounts hold more than the vault’s total that day!
Then Texas Tom’s frown turns upside down, his eyes gleam, and he says: “Everything’s fine now!” He doesn’t need to take any money with him. He’s cheered by simply remembering his resources. This change of perspective brings him comfort, joy, and peace of mind for a while.
The Holy Spirit Plays “Banker”
Whatever our need or situation, God the Spirit acts like the banker in the story above. He shows us Christ’s treasures throughout the Scriptures, teaching us how Jesus makes all His followers spiritually wealthy. No matter how much or how little we have in material prosperity, the Spirit says, “Look in God’s vault.” Look at the whole Bible and see what you have in Christ and rejoice in Him, despite what’s going wrong.
Christians don’t get to cash in on all our future blessings yet, but we do get to walk out of God’s “vault” with spiritually loaded pockets. We get to taste and see how good and kind the Lord is! We get to call on Him for provision, pardon, and protection now! As we reconnect with our Heavenly Father, God the Holy Spirit makes us happy and glad, even in the midst of troubles. Whatever encouragement we get from the Lord, we want to share it with others. Proverbs says, “Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed!”
Whom have I in Heaven but You? And Earth has nothing I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, and He is mine forever… As for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge. I will tell of all Your deeds. (Psalm 73:25-28)
The Package Deal of Christian Salvation
I often remind Christians of the “Package Deal” we have in Christ. When God saves us, He gives us all this:
- Jesus as our new loving, living Lord and Master
- The Holy Spirit as our new Indweller, Sanctifier, Comforter, Counselor, Guide, and Intercessor
- Regeneration (new birth): a new heart, mind, and life
- Justification: a new record (God’s pardon and acceptance)
- Adoption: a new family with God the Holy Trinity and Christ’s followers (His Church)
- Sanctification: a new God-serving way of life and power to live it
- Faith and repentance: new closeness to God our Heavenly Father
- Good works: a new way of loving, grateful, obedient living
- Preservation: a new guarantee that God will finish what He started in us
- Assurance: new confidence and security of eternal salvation in Jesus
- Glorification: a new forever home with Christ in paradise (perfected people in a perfect place with our perfect Lord.)9
This “Benefit Package” is just one of many ways to estimate all the riches we have in Jesus. The Holy Spirit takes the whole Bible, over 31,000 verses, to tell us of Christ’s infinite, eternal, and unchangeable value. And we need frequent, repeated trips into God’s vault in Scripture to see what we have in Christ, because things often go wrong for Christians and we forget our blessings. The Bible is very honest about that. So we need the Lord to cheer us!
To be continued
Notes (various Bible translations): 1 The Business Standard, July 12, 2026. 2 Eph 1:3, 3:8; Rom 8:32. 3 1 Kings 3:28, 4:34. 4 Matt 12:38-42. 5 Matt 13:44-46. 6 Matt 6:33; Ps 37:4; Prov 3:5-6; Luke 12:31; Rom 14:17; Col 3:1-2; Heb 11:6. 7 Elliot seems to have adapted these words from Philip Henry (1631-1696), father of Matthew Henry, the famous Bible commentator. 8 Rom 12:1-2. 9 See Westminster Confession of Faith in Modern English (EPC edition, 1984).