Purpose of This Blog

As the blog title suggests, the reason I have begun this blog is to hopefully encourage others to examine their lives in view of how they treasure Christ in their hearts and how treasuring Christ affects our entire minute-by-minute perspective and behavior as Christians! I believe so much of our behavior is influenced by our beliefs and perspective. When you value something and consider it to be worth doing anything for (think young love), this "valuing" changes your behavior! So, it stands to reason that if Christ is our greatest treasure, this changes a lot of things:
1) How we fight sin
2) How we deal with our weaknesses
3) How we deal with our wounds
4) How we recover from setbacks
5) How we spend our time
6) How we use our other resources (money, energy, talents, skills, knowledge)
7) How we treat others (the lost, the hurting, parents, siblings, spouses, children, friends, in-laws, co-workers, neighbors, strangers, enemies)
8) How we die to ourselves
9) How we live for and in Christ
10) Our motivation towards Christ-likeness and Holiness

If you think you can be a Christian and NOT treasure Christ, you are wrong. Being a Christian is not summed up in being saved and being a good person. Being a Christian is identifying yourself with Christ and it's an "all-in" life!
Being a Christian is not easy because your natural self loves the darkness and even as a Christian you have to resist the urges to satisfy the flesh...sometimes on an hour by hour basis. 
The good news is that God sustains our faith! It's not all up to us to fight this battle alone. In fact, we are powerless to do what is right! My point is this: If Christ is not your motivation, then your flesh and our enemy (satan) wins. This is a huge factor why so many Christians are defeated. Instead of focusing on eternal treasure, we stare at what the world offers and dwell on what our flesh demands. We are deceived.

So, if you are reading this and what I am saying resonates with your current struggle(s), my prayer is that this blog has meaning and purpose in your life! My prayer is that God, in His great Mercy and Grace, uses these writings to encourage you that there is hope and I can witness to the fact that if Christ becomes your most treasured obsession (yes obsession!), your life will transform (through the working of God's Spirit and The Word) to become the Christian who experiences Jesus in fullness, not shame. There is hope!