Many Christians emphasize our value as “treasures” or “pearls” in God’s sight, suggesting that this intrinsic worth is what moved Him to send Jesus to the cross. At first glance, that sounds beautiful. But if our supposed worthiness was the reason Christ died, what becomes of grace?
The cross is the greatest expression of grace precisely because those for whom Christ died merited only wrath and judgment. If we were already treasures, then His sacrifice becomes a payment for what we “deserved” rather than an unearned gift of mercy.
Did God See Treasure in Us?
I’ve often heard the popular idea expressed like this:
“We ask Jesus: ‘Who were we that led you to do this for us?’ Jesus answers: ‘You were a treasure hidden to yourself but seen by Me.’”
But Romans 5:6–8 tells a different story:
- We were helpless.
- We were ungodly.
- We were sinners.
- We were enemies of God.
If Jesus died for us because of something already valuable in us, then His sacrifice is no longer grace—it becomes debt. God would have been “obligated” to rescue what was already precious. But that is not the gospel.
The True Answer
When we ask, “Who were we that led You to do this for us?” the only biblical answer is:
“You were hell-deserving rebels with no claim on Me except to be the recipients of eternal wrath. I died for you not because of anything in you, but in spite of what was in you. I did this solely because of what is in Me: sovereign, free, and gracious love.”
This is grace—God giving us what we do not deserve, motivated entirely by His goodness, not ours.
From Dungheap to Treasure
Certainly, God saved us in Christ to make us into His treasured possession (cf. 1 Pet. 2:9). But we were not treasures beforehand. We were spiritual beggars, rebels, and enemies. Grace means God loved us not because of our beauty, but despite our ugliness.
Sam Storms puts it bluntly:
“Thanks be to God that he has chosen to make a treasure out of a dungheap. But it was not because I was a treasure but in spite of my being a dungheap that he was moved to love me in the first place.”
Why This Matters
If we believe God saved us because of some hidden worth, then grace is diminished. But if we grasp that God’s love is rooted only in His sovereign decision to love the unlovely, then our worship is magnified. We cannot boast in ourselves; we boast in Him alone.
The cross teaches us this unshakable truth: Christ died not for treasures but for traitors. And by grace alone, He makes traitors into treasures.
✦ Reflection: When you think about why God saved you, do you look inward at what you imagine He saw in you, or upward to what was in Him? True freedom comes when you rest in grace—love that had no cause in you, but every cause in God.
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