“The
kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he
hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that
field.
“Again,
the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he
went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
This
is one Parable that I do not remember teaching, until very recently. I think I just skipped over it because it made
me uncomfortable. First, I did not fully
get what it was saying about the Kingdom of heaven. Second, I was not sure what
to make of selling everything because
most Christians can follow Jesus and keep their stuff. Even in Acts you do not see
this as a universal principle, some people did sell everything and others did not. Even Zacchaeus only sold half of all what he
had, while Matthew the tax collector sold everything. So what was Jesus trying to tell us about the
Kingdom of Heaven by this passage?
When
Jesus talks about the Kingdom of Heaven he is not talking about an earthly
Kingdom. But at the same time, it is made up of people from all over the
earth. The highlight of the Kingdom is
that those who are a part of it live and think differently. Here is how I see it: I feel that sinful thinking is like this,
the many good things God gave us are twisted so they lead us away from God. So
kingdom thinking is the opposite, the good things we have are twisted in great ways
that bring us closer to Christ likeness.
And
this passage is really not about investing, as in both stories the men sell
everything to buy something of seemingly equal value. But like I said I think this passage is about
how we think, so that is why I feel I now have a better understanding of this
passage. I just came back from Honduras
and while in Honduras I met some people who think differently. And when I ran across this parable it was
like a light bulb flashed to life above my head. It is about understanding true value, going
from just having stuff to having a treasure worth treasuring. It is about
knowing what God treasures. Because it
is in human nature to treasure things that are not worthy of our hearts, unfortunately we
give our hearts away cheaply.
Understanding true treasure is really about seeing what God sees, and
treasuring what God treasures.
I
think it is interesting that Jesus used two illustrations here. I believe it is because people are unique and
God works with our uniqueness. Not all
treasures are going to shine as brightly for me as they do for someone
else. But, we need to keep our eyes open;
we need to always be on a treasure hunt.
But
now I sit back, and think… It seems my wife and I have just had the chance to
stumble across our treasure… What kind of thinking drives us?
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