Matthew 13:44-16
The key words: kingdom of heaven, joy, everything/all he had, bought. Jesus tells two stories about treasure. One man stumbles across a treasure, another man has been seeking treasure his whole life. The end result is the same: when they sell all they have in order to obtain that which is worth more than everything.
The key for me is that the man who found the treasure in the field responded in joy. Sometimes I mourn the loss of those things that I have given up for the sake of the kingdom. Sometimes when I read the other passages where Jesus talks about the things a person will have to give up in order to follow him, all I can see is the pain and the cost: take up your cross, deny yourself, face persecution and loss of reputation and loss of possessions and loss of relationship and loss, loss, loss. This tells me that I do not value the kingdom highly enough for what can compare to the infinite joy and value of the kingdom of heaven. Everything that I have given up is a cheap imitation of the treasure that is the kingdom. The things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Good point. I hear you on feeling like things always cost, and what we are receiving has far more value than anything we will give up, and yet we are not willing to let things go, may we grab on to God joyfully and let go of anything else.
Post a Comment