Thursday, March 16, 2023
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. MATTHEW 13:44, CSB
The Greatest Treasure Is Yours
How valuable do you perceive God’s kingdom to be? In the movie National Treasure, main character Ben Gates (played by Nicholas Cage) abandons everything to find a treasure his family spent decades unsuccessfully searching for. With his eyes on the prize in front of him, he stops at nothing to follow the clues hidden throughout the United States to find the treasure. Similarly, the man in Matthew 13:44 joyfully gave up all he had because of the value of what he was getting in return. The kingdom of God held so much weight to him that selling all he had was a small cost compared to his gain. As missionary Jim Elliot put it, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Never stop seeing the kingdom of God as the greatest treasure and set your heart adamantly on inviting our one into this joy.
On the other hand, in Luke chapter 18 we hear about the rich young ruler who came to Jesus and asked how he could have eternal life. And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. Luke 18:18-23
This rich young ruler was not willing to exchange all his earthly possessions for eternal life. He wanted eternal life but was not willing to surrender his things in order to receive it. Of course selling all your worldly possessions and giving them to the poor will not get you into heaven. This story is about loving something more than Jesus. It is about looking at what is in front of you, in your bank account, in your house, who you are married to or dating, etc..., and wanting all that more than you want to follow Jesus. Jesus wants all of us, surrendered fully to Him. Until we fully surrender all to Him, He cannot work in our lives in the way He wants to. We don’t have to get rid of everything and everyone in our lives, just what is keeping us from following Jesus completely. Nothing should be of more value in our lives than our relationship with Jesus and following Him, fully surrendered. And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers[b] or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, 30 who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.” Luke 18:29-30
Pray you would value the kingdom like the man in Matthew 13:44 and that it would propel you to share your findings with your one.
Who's Your One Daily Prayer Guide Day 12
Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God concerning them is for their salvation. I can testify about them that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. Since they are ignorant of the righteousness of God and attempted to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted to God’s righteousness. ROMANS 10:1-3, CSB
Lord, I know it is possible for people to pursue meaningful things in this life in the vain hope that their zeal for what is perceived as good will somehow work to their eternal benefit. Far too often, those who are far from You assume things will work out in the end
because they have been fairly good people in this life and given their time and energy to do what they consider good. Sadly, many are like those Paul prays for in this passage. They have zeal but lack knowledge of God’s righteousness seen in Jesus Christ. Awaken ____________ to Your offer of salvation, and helphim/her see the futility of anything other than You as a hope for eternal salvation.
