4 Minute Read
Prepare Your Heart
To the best of your ability, get rid of all distractions. Take a few minutes to breathe deeply and quiet yourself in the Lord’s presence. Then, ask the Lord to speak to you in this time. Let Him know that you will listen and make whatever adjustments He will reveal to you.
Read God’s Word
A Verse for Today
Slowly and reflectively read the following verse(s) and listen to what God will say to you through His written Word. Consider writing down any insights He reveals to you.
Matthew 13:44 (CSB): “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure, buried in a field, that a man found and reburied. Then in his joy he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field.”
Reflecting on God’s Word
Imagine you were walking across a field. It’s a beautiful day, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and you’re enjoying the experience. But then, you stumble across something in the ground you had not seen. As you grab your aching toes, you look back in an attempt to identify what you tripped over.
What you see is the top of an old box. Curiosity gets the best of you, so you begin digging around that box. You soon realize this is no mere box; it’s an old chest. You’ve seen chests like this before in pirate movies, and it usually has all sorts of valuables inside. Your heart begins to race.
As you pull the box up from the hole you dug around it, you realize that the lock has rusted and can no longer keep the contents inside safe. You gently pull on the lid, and it breaks loose. What you see inside that chest makes your mouth drop. You cannot believe your eyes! There are silver coins, diamonds, and many other things you assume are incredibly valuable. In fact, in your not-so-expert opinion, the value of the contents inside that chest dwarfs your whole net worth. Your net worth would barely be enough to buy the field.
You’re a thief if you walk off with that chest of valuables. Neither that chest nor that field belong to you. So what are you to do? Well, if you do what Jesus suggests in the parable, you would bury the treasure again, go and sell all of your possessions, buy the field with the proceeds, and then the treasure chest would belong to you since it was in that field.
Now, realize that parables are usually only told to illustrate one point. And the point of this parable is not to conceal something valuable so that we can dupe the owner of a field. Instead, this parable means that we are not foolish if we sell everything we have to get what is worth more than what we have.
And what does the treasure box represent? The Kingdom of Heaven! It represents salvation and what we get as a result of yielding to Jesus’ authority over our lives. Jesus says that trusting in Him for salvation, yielding to his authority as our King, and getting all that is ours because we are now in the Kingdom, is worth losing everything else.
This parable makes it clear that belonging to the Kingdom of Heaven is worth more than most people who claim to be Christians realize. Would you follow Jesus if it meant that you would lose your family, your health, your wealth, and everything else? While that idea would be painful and even abhorrent to us, Jesus’ parable makes it clear that the trade would be worth it.
Something tells me that those of us who are saved don’t fully realize just what we’ve got!
Spend Time in Prayer
Lord Jesus, thank You for saving me. But when I reflect on this parable, I realize that being a part of the Kingdom is clearly more incredible than I currently realize. Please draw me closer to you so I can enjoy You more. And Holy Spirit, open my eyes so that I can see so many wonderful truths in Your Word about what it means to be in the Kingdom. And then help me to continually give my life to You, realizing that it’s a steal because of all that I get in return. I pray this in Your Name, Amen.
Going Deeper
If you want to go deeper, check out this article by Got Questions: “What is the meaning of the Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl of Great Price?”
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Matt Ellis is the pastor of First Baptist Church in Polk City, Florida (fbcpolkcity.com).
Matt’s Musings 