Sometimes it is hard to define the gift that God has given us.  The gift of His grace, His mercy, His forgiveness.  Truly the list goes on and on.  Have you ever tried to define it?  To put words to it?  I appreciate Jesus’ unique way of getting His point across.  He always packaged a life impacting lesson into a short story that even the youngest of children could understand.  This is one of my favorite short parables:

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.  Matthew 13:44 NIV

Two simple sentences, but one impactful point.  Jesus is drawing a great analogy to what the Kingdom of Heaven is like…which by the way is something we get to experience NOW, not later.  We, as believers, experience the benefits of Kingdom living today.  It is not something we have to wait for…but let’s save that conversation for a future post.

Pull out one thing from this verse: what this man found was so great, so grand that he released everything else he had.  Once he experienced this great treasure, everything else paled in comparison.  Nothing else was worth having.  Nothing else was worth experiencing.

The gift we have been given in Jesus should have the same impact on us.  The verse says that in his joy he sold everything – he abandoned all else for this gift, the Kingdom of God.

Is Jesus advocating for us to sell our homes, all of our possessions, and abandon our responsibilities?  I don’t believe so.  But, I do think He is telling us two things:

1. The gift He has provided should bring us overwhelming joy – that nothing of this world should overshadow that gift.

2. We need to set aside and get rid of anything that might be holding us back from experiencing this joy.

This might be something material, or something you are dealing with internally like pride.  We must make whatever sacrifice is needed to protect this amazing gift.  Don’t let anything stand between you and it!

Francis Chan in his book, Crazy Love, asked two very pointed questions (which I will leave as my closing thoughts) that I think are very applicable after reading Matthew 13:44 and the reaction (you might even think extreme reaction) that this man goes to when he finds this gift:

1. Has your relationship with God actually changed the way you live?

2. Do you see evidence of God’s Kingdom in your life?