Friday, May 23, 2014

pure joy


“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
As many people would question, Why did the man sell EVERYTHING he had for this hidden treasure? The answer is simple: The Kingdom is worth everything. As it is said in this parable, the kingdom is a treasure — much more costly than the wealth and status that we desire here on earth. The kingdom of God will cost you everything. You hear that? Everything. Like Paul talks about in Philippians:
“But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.” -Philippians 3:7-8
We know that the kingdom of God is available to us by grace through faith; however, it also involves us to reorient our lives to Jesus, to be fully transformed into the life we are called to live. We sometimes feel jaded to this concept and find ourselves immersed by the immediate materialism the world offers to us. Sometimes we think we can have both: a life called to Jesus and a life living up to the world’s standards. But God calls us out for something so much greater, so much more than what our world can give us. The Kingdom may not be apparent to everyone unless they have the eyes to see and the ears to hear.
And in the verse, it said that “in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” There was joy in discovering this treasure…pure, genuine joy. The joy felt in the man’s heart after finding this hidden treasure is the same reaction we need to have as well. Have we become too careless about what this means to us? We have become too content that we don’t realize there is so much more work to be done in furthering God’s kingdom.
As Bill stated in his message, “When Jesus talks about the kingdom, He becomes passionate.” Shouldn’t we also share the same passion that Jesus had? Shouldn’t we also share the same joy like the man in the field?

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