Day 15 - The Treasure

Written By: Nathan Boyd

SCRIPTURE FOCUS
Matthew 13:44
44 “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.

DEVOTION
We have two young boys in our house that love to use their creative imaginations to be transported to worlds of make-believe and fairy tales. Over the years we have gone through different stages, from Toy Story to Trucks, Star-Wars to Spiderman but our youngest, Ben, at one time was obsessed with Peter Pan and the evil pirate Captain Hook. He would play for hours drawing treasure maps, hiding treasure, and rescuing the precious booty from the evil villain of the day. In order to recover the stolen treasure there would always be multiple sword fights and lots of jumping off of furniture. Ben would go to great lengths to recover the imaginary treasure. 
In our passage today, Jesus tells a story of a man that discovers a treasure in a field. While this seems like an unlikely occurrence, back in biblical times it wasn’t uncommon for people to bury their most prized possessions in fear that some opposing army might invade their land and take it from them. There were no banks, like we know them today, so valuables were hidden away for safekeeping. The man in the story stumbles upon this incredible treasure, but instead of stealing it, he hides it, goes and sells all that he has, buys the land, and now the treasure is rightfully his. 

Jesus tells this story to describe what the Kingdom of Heaven is like, so what does it mean and how is it relevant to our lives today? 

First, the treasure is revealed, not the product of his searching. The man that discovers the buried treasure wasn’t looking for it but just happened to walk up on it, this is similar to salvation. Salvation is a gift that is freely given and something that outside of the Holy Spirit we would never discover on our own. The treasure of knowing Jesus and having a relationship with Him, is something that is revealed through God’s grace and the Spirit’s power. 

Second, the treasure is so valuable, it is worth sacrificing everything else. The man goes and sells all his worldly possessions so that he can raise enough money to buy the field and as a result gain the great treasure. Once we discover the treasure of Jesus, we will be willing to forsake everything else to follow Him. Some would say that we must sacrifice our worldly possessions and relationships in order to follow Jesus, but it isn’t really a sacrifice if what we receive in return is better than what we had before. A relationship with Jesus brings true contentment, peace, and love to a life marked with disappointment, anxiety, and indifference. 

In the American Church today there are many people that have received a glimpse of the treasure but they have not moved close enough to discover the beautiful vastness of the treasure. They may know some Bible stories and believe some truths about the life of Jesus, but knowing about Jesus and having a relationship with Him are drastically different. The person that has a relationship with Jesus knows that Jesus is a great treasure and the more you spend time with Him, the new facets of his beauty you discover. 

Do you see Jesus as your true and great treasure?

ACTION STEP
Much like my son making a treasure map to show the way to the buried treasure, how can you create a “map” that will lead you to Jesus? What can you do to move in closer to Jesus to see his great worth? What spiritual disciplines can you put in place that would help you in this pursuit?

If you don’t know where to begin we have created a great course that helps you start to follow Jesus, it can be found at churchatthegrove.com/believe

PRAYER TIME
Lord Jesus, I thank you that you are the great treasure that is better than anything this world tries to sell me. Please continue to reveal to me who you are and as a result let me fall more in love with you. I love you Jesus and it's in your name I pray. Amen.