“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field”. Matthew 13:44 ESV
Thoughts:
What God has given to those who believe in him far surpasses anything a wealthy person can offer. Salvation and eternal life in God’s house with eternal peace in his presence cannot be compared to any earthly monetary gain. Imagine inheriting great wealth, what would your paradise home would look like on earth? Know that Heaven far surpasses that with beauty and peace. On earth, no matter what “paradise” we live in, we still have relational challenges, health issues, the challenges of growing old knowing at some point we may be fully dependent on someone else, incapable of caring for ourselves. We all have death lurking around the corner. We don’t have these problems in God’s house. As a Christian you will one day spend an eternity in God’s Paradise where there is no pain, no sorrow, and true peace. There’s no growing old there. No daily grind. By grace we can sometimes experience glimpses of his Kingdom and presence now. Let us focus on Him!
To sell everything for the only true treasure worth living for is life. Jesus once said, For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
And although I share these initial thoughts, and truths, I know there is a part of me that wants to partake in earthly and temporary desires. This is the flesh that wars against the Spirit within me. I sometimes find myself putting way too much focus on the temporal instead of that which is eternal. And I know that even though I wrestle, and maybe you wrestle, our God loves us dearly. If even when we didn’t care or wrestle he loved us so much he was willing to died for us, how much more so is he with us and loving us now that we do care and wrestle? Lord help us walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh.
For me I’ve come to this: I don’t want to let myself be too overwhelmed with mentally trying to break off of the flesh that I may live a more radical life. Yes, I said don’t do that… To do this “mentally” is to do this by the flesh. Galatians 3:3 says this, “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?“ Instead of “mentally trying”, I am better off investing my time and energy with God, and trusting in Jesus Christ. I’m better off spending time getting to know my God and believing in my Lord and Savior who has loved me to the cross and loves me today, tomorrow and forever.
Help me stay focused on you Jesus, to the glory of my God and Father. Help me know you, trust you, believe in you, and help me walk by the Spirit, thank you Lord! amen.
Amen, Like Thomas we want to touch and feel, but believing is better.